Breast cancer sufferers denied life-prolonging drug Kadcyla branded a ‘tragedy’

Countless women suffering from breast cancer “are having their lives shortened in front of their eyes” by the decision to withdraw a pioneering treatment from the NHS, a Labour MP has said.

Siobhain McDonagh said it was a “tragedy” that women would no longer have access to Kadcyla, as she hit out at the approach of health authorities to innovative new drugs.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) published final draft guidance late last year saying Kadcyla – which can give women dying from an aggressive form of breast cancer extra months of life – was not set at an affordable price.

The drug will be removed from the NHS in June, though the decision has prompted a fierce backlash from breast cancer sufferers and campaign groups.

Ms McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden, led a backbench debate on the issue in the Commons calling on Nice to rethink the decision.

She told MPs: “Kadcyla matters so much to all these women for one simple reason – it works.

“Kadcyla, it has already been available on the NHS for over two years, and its side effects are limited in comparison to other treatments.

“But today, it is nothing short of a tragedy to know that countless women who thought that Kadcyla would be the next treatment they would receive for their breast cancer are having their lives shortened in front of their eyes.”

Bonnie Fox, who suffers from incurable breast cancer and has led a petition fighting the changes, was among those in the public gallery watching the debate.

The petition was signed more than 115,000 times before it closed earlier this week.

Ms McDonagh read out personal stories of friends who suffered from breast cancer and had benefited from Kadcyla, as they looked on from the public gallery.

Ms McDonagh added that she was approached by a Labour MP on Wednesday who explained that she was receiving treatment, and chose not to take part in the debate because it was too close to her heart.

Ms McDonagh said: “The ability to lead an enriched and longer life as a result of medical advances should not be limited just to those who can afford private healthcare.

“Those advances should be accessible to us all.”

The Labour MP also raised concern about poor access to bisphosphonate drugs, which slow down or prevent bone damage, as well as other innovative cancer drugs.

“We are seeing effective treatment after effective treatment being rejected or facing rejection from Nice,” said Ms McDonagh.

“What I want to know is, is it really right that we have a health service that plans to take away these lifelines?”

She added: “We are talking about people’s lives.

“For those affected, for those to whom this decision is all too real, their lives are in the hands of a formula, the Nice available appraisal process.

“And yet this life-changing formula has had little examination for years.”

Labour MP Julie Elliott (Sunderland Central) said the drug was available on the health service in Canada, France and Germany.

Lib Dem former health minister Norman Lamb added that leaving the European Medicines Agency after Brexit could further limit access to new and innovative drugs.

Tory Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) said Roche, the manufacturer of the drug, had notified him it is willing to negotiate with Nice.

He said: “I hope that there is scope for Nice and the manufacturer of Kadcyla, Roche, to sit down and agree, if only for this treatment, some compromise and actually I had a briefing note from Roche this morning stating that they are willing to do that.

“I hope Nice will respond in kind to that and their consultation ended last week.”

He bemoaned the fact the NHS spends money on prescribing simple painkillers like paracetamol as he suggested that cash could be better spent on life-saving treatments.

He said: “Surely there is a way of the doctors just simply issuing them when it’s appropriate to do so and stop this merry-go- round of paper work that as I say costs many millions of pounds.”

Tory former minister Theresa Villiers echoed a similar sentiment as she said some patients find it hard to understand that the NHS can spend such significant sums on non-life threatening, sometimes almost cosmetic treatments, yet not give priority to drugs like Kadcyla.

She said: “Surely something is wrong. There could be savings made in other parts of the NHS which would more than pay for Kadcyla.”

Shadow public health secretary Sharon Hodgson said her mother-in-law would have welcomed another six months to spend with her grandchildren before her death from secondary breast cancer nearly 20 years ago.

Mrs Hodgson told MPs: “Even if measured in months, those months are surely priceless to the women and families involved.

“I speak here from personal experience as I also lost my mother-in-law to secondary breast cancer 20 years ago this year, when my children were very, very small.

“I know she fought for every extra week and day in the end, and she would have given anything for an extra six months to spend with all of her grandchildren for that little bit longer. We all wanted that for her.

“For all those 1,200 women [eligible for Kadcyla] it is time with their children – to see them reach one more milestone, or just be with their families, to see their children start school perhaps, go to university, get married or even give birth to a grandchild.

“What is the cost of such moments, such memories that are so precious and help families so much with what ultimately and inevitably then follows?”

The Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West raised concerns over decisions based on cost, rather than clinical need.

Tory MP Steve Baker also told how his mother-in-law died from secondary cancer and described the issue as an “intractable problem”.

He added: “While it is very easy for all of us to say that Kadcyla should be freely available to all those who need it without any restriction, I am well aware that this is a long-standing problem which applies to many long-standing pharmaceuticals.”

Health Minister Nicola Blackwood said improving the outcomes for people with cancer is a top priority for the Government.

But she said it is right that Nice, and not politicians, has the ultimate say over what drugs should be prescribed.

She said: “The Government does fully understand how important it is that people are able to access new and promising drug treatments for people affected by cancer, and we firmly believe that clinically appropriate drugs that are established as cost effective should be routinely available to NHS patients.

“Now all of us here know that these decisions, which can be fiendishly complex, will never be easy.

“And we also know from long experience in this place that they should not be made by arbitrary intervention of politicians.

“They must be clinically led and made on the basis of the best available evidence, and be frequently reviewed when new evidence comes forward.

“That is why it is right for Nice to play this role in providing independent, evidence-based guidance for the NHS on whether significant new drugs represent a clinically and cost effective use of NHS resources.”

The NHS is legally required to fund drugs recommended by Nice.

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