NHS hospitals in England to ditch life-boosting breast cancer pill as bosses try to cut costs
The axed pill is known to extend patients' survival rates by 11 months but will still be available in Scotland and Wales
BREAST cancer patients in England will be denied a life-extending drug widely available in Scotland and Wales.
NHS spending watchdog NICE rejected £3,000- a-month Afinitor on the grounds that it is “not cost-effective”.
It has been available in England since 2013.
From February around 1,500 newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients will not get it.
But those already on it will continue to receive it.
Trials showed Afinitor can extend survival by 11 months of patients with HER-2 negative cancer that has not responded to other treatments.
Around 75 per cent of breast tumours are HER2 negative.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, of Breast Cancer Now, said: “This is a huge blow.”
The decision means, for the first time, an effective breast cancer drug will be available in Wales and Scotland but not in England.