Oncologists say CDF cuts will compromise treatment
pharmafile | March 10, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | CDF, Jevtana, NHS, NICE, Sanofi, cabazitaxel, doctors.net, m3
Oncologists believe cutting drugs from the Cancer Drugs Fund won’t save the NHS money and will worsen patient outcomes according to a Sanofi commissioned survey – whose prostate cancer drug Jevtana is one of the 25 medicines in line to be axed.
The online survey quizzed 115 oncologists sampled from the doctors.net.uk community and from M3 Global Research. Seventy-nine per cent of these said they agree or strongly agree that the cuts will compromise their ability to make optimal treatment choices for their patients, while 74% said they believed that the CDF panel placed budgetary considerations ahead of what’s best for cancer patients when they made their decisions about cuts to the fund.
77 of the clinicians surveyed were prostate cancer specialists, almost two-thirds of whom said that following the removal of Sanofi’s Jevtana (cabazitaxel) from the CDF, they expect to manage prostate cancer with less effective treatment for longer, or move patients onto supportive care sooner.
Hugh Gunn, spokesperson for prostate cancer patients’ charity TACKLE, says: “March 12 will be a truly terrible day for men with prostate cancer and their families if cabazitaxel is de-listed. For many men – myself included – cabazitaxel was going to be the next treatment option. In fact, the last treatment option we had left. At the moment I’m well, but in a few months’ time I might not be; for the first time in my entire cancer journey I’m frightened.”
Tarja Stenvall, general manager for Sanofi in the UK, adds that the firm has ‘made an offer’ to NHS England, the Department of Health and NICE “in an attempt to ensure that men get access to the treatment they need”.
She says: “All sides have a responsibility to work together to find a solution for patients. We have asked David Cameron to intervene to make sure we have the opportunity to discuss that solution with the CDF Panel.”
Sanofi first expressed its frustration at Jevtana being cut from the Fund in a statement released on World Cancer Day.
“The decision to de-list Jevtana and another 25 uses of cancer medicines is surprising, given that English cancer patients are still faring poorly compared to their European counterparts,” the French company said.
NICE originally rejected Jevtana for NHS funding because of questions of its safety combined with its high cost.
Although the drug has been shown to increase overall survival by more than three months, the watchdog ruled that this is not enough to justify its price of £22,200 per patient for six rounds of treatment, especially when the chemotherapy agents available for this setting – including mitoxantrone, 5FU, and carboplatin – are all much cheaper.
NICE also noted that the drug comes with a high risk of side effects, including anaemia, leukopenia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia and gastrointestinal events such as diarrhoea – along with other common adverse reactions.
Defending the decision to de-list drugs from the fund, Professor Peter Clark the chair of the CDF, says: “These are difficult decisions, but if we don’t prioritise the drugs that offer the best value, many people could miss out on promising, more effective treatments that are in the pipeline.”
George Underwood
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