NHS accused of denying women lifesaving breast cancer drug

A lifesaving and inexpensive breast cancer drug is being denied to thousands of patients, claims a leading charity.

"Women's lives are needlessly being put at risk," says Breast Cancer Now chief executive Baroness Delyth Morgan.

The drug, bisphosphonate, which costs 43p a day, is normally used to treat osteoporosis but has also proven effective at stopping breast cancer from spreading in post-menopausal women.

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"These are cheap and widely available drugs and the overwhelming evidence of their ability to save lives should have changed practice by now," Morgan added.

Breast Cancer Now blamed confusion over who should pay for the drug for the hold-up, which it described as "bureaucratic inertia", Sky News reports.

The charity also called for clear national guidance on funding, arguing that as research showed the drug could prevent one in ten breast cancer deaths, the NHS would save money in the long-term as bone density scans would not be needed and fewer patients would go on to develop secondary breast cancer.

Professor Ian Smith, the chairman of the Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group, said it was "deeply concerning" that such an inexpensive treatment was not being made available to all who could benefit.

"In order to deliver the best quality breast cancer care to UK patients, the introduction of these drugs for all eligible women must now be our top priority," he said.

NHS England said funding decisions on the drug were currently made on a local level, but it was awaiting new advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.