London - A new drug which improves survival in sufferers of pancreatic cancer – one of the most deadly forms of the disease – has been licensed for use in the UK.
Abraxane increases survival by two months on average, but some patients can live up to two years longer. It is being hailed as the biggest advance in nearly 20 years against a disease which kills four in five sufferers within a year.
Around 8 500 Britons are diagnosed each year and only five percent are still alive five years after diagnosis.
The drug, which is already licensed for advanced breast cancer, is given as an intravenous injection, costing £600 (about R10 800) a month.
Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer treated with Abraxane as well as chemotherapy lived for 8.7 months compared with 6.6 months for those on standard treatment.
Abraxane, also known as nab-paclitaxel, is the first new medicine in 17 years licensed for the disease. NHS rationing watchdog Nice will decide later this year whether it should be funded.
But makers Celgene are applying to the Cancer Drugs Fund next month to enable patients in England to get it in the meantime.
Professor David Cunningham, director of clinical research at the Royal Marsden, said: “We have waited for many years for an alternative to current treatments. Today’s news represents a significant step forward.” - Daily Mail