Alitma Denied

Some patients in England are being denied vital treatment for lung cancer. According to the article, people in Derbyshire, England, who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma are being denied Alimta, a drug that slows the growth of deadly tumors in the lungs.

Alimta is a chemotherapy drug but is the only one which is specific for mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs that has killed 300 people in the county during the past 30 years.

In January, campaigners were delighted when, after a three-year process, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended that the NHS should fund the treatment of Alimta for mesothelioma patients.

But the guidelines given by the institute only included patients who had not previously been treated with chemotherapy.

It is down to the local primary care trust to decide whether to fund it for patients who have previously had chemotherapy.

If funding is not agreed, then patients would have to pay around £10,000 for a course of the drug and an extra £15,000 for medical care.

This means that if patients have had chemotherapy (a pre-existing condition clause) they can’t get the only drug that could possibly extend their lives. The article states that patients who have been treated with Alimta live on average “for an extra two-and-a-half months”.

However the proportion of people who survive for a year is almost doubled compared to those not taking the drug and a handful of people will live for two years or more. The average survival time without treatment is seven or eight months.

For the families of these patients this is absolutely devastating. Not only are their loved ones suffering from a disease that is going to take their lives, but they’re also told they aren’t worth the effort of keeping them alive just a little longer. In my own mind, this is an effort to save the government money because they don’t have to spend the extra money on treatments that won’t actually save the person’s life. The article says that the patients can pay for the treatment out-of-pocket, but the price for the average person is more than the family can bear financially.

Another loop hole for the benefit of the insurance/drug companies.

From the comments, a light of truth:

The easiest way to get treatment for any desease or illness,no expense spared,is to commit a crime. It needs to be a really serious crime,or else you won’t get jailed. Once inside the Prison Service will fall over themselves to get you any treatment you need.

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