A life-saving cancer drug is now available on the NHS for patients in Sunderland and Durham.
Erlotinib – known as Tarceva – is being offered to patients on the NHS in the North East after manufacturers agreed to cut its cost.
The decision comes after consultation with the North East and Cumbria Cancer Drug Approvals Group – which includes d
octors and other professionals involved in the care of patients with cancer – and lobbying from individuals and charities.
This means that lung cancer patients and their consultants now have a wider range of treatment choices after a first chemotherapy treatment.
Financial guidance for the drug is still pending from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).
The drug approvals group has agreed that Tarceva can be used when a patient has stopped responding to their initial treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer.
The drug will also be available to patients who may have already started a second treatment for lung cancer, if clinically appropriate and if they will benefit from the drug. It is not approved for use when two previous different chemotherapy regimes have failed.
Charity The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has welcomed the move and is urging Nice to approve the drug.
Mike Unger, chief executive, said: "It's a great decision. It's great news fro everybody who has campaigned for this area. We hope it puts the message across to other PCTs that this drug is necessary and that it does work and that clinicians and their patients have the right to have it."
On average 200 people die each year in Sunderland due to lung cancer, which represents seven per cent of all deaths.
