+3
Hope for pancreatic cancer sufferers: Abraxane - already licensed for advanced breast cancer - is given as an injection costing £600 a month
A new drug that improves survival in sufferers of pancreatic cancer - one of the most deadly forms of the disease - has been licensed for use in the UK.
Abraxane increases survival by two months on average, but some patients are living up to two years longer.
The drug is being hailed as the biggest advance in almost two decades against a disease that kills four in five sufferers within a year.
About 8,500 Britons are diagnosed each year and survival remains the lowest of all the major cancers.
Only five per cent of patients are still alive five years after diagnosis and there has been no improvement in five and 10 year survival rates in the last 40 years.
Tumours are hard to detect because the pancreas is buried deep in the body so symptoms emerge when the disease is at an advanced stage.
Pancreatic cancer claimed the lives of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and author Iain Banks, and was the disease which triggered the character Hayley Cropper in TV’s Coronation Street to end her own life.
The drug, which is already licensed for advanced breast cancer, is given as an intravenous injection costing £600 a month.
Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer treated with Abraxane and chemotherapy lived for 8.7 months compared with 6.6 months for those on standard treatment.
Trial data shows that Abraxane, also known as nab-paclitaxel, increases the number of patients alive after two years.
Professor Juan Valle, consultant oncologist and honorary professor of medical oncology at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, said ‘Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat and treatment options remain extremely limited, with those diagnosed typically only surviving for three to six months.
‘Nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine represents a significant advance in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer and offers new hope in the battle against this intractable disease.’
+3
+3
High profile victims of pancreatic cancer: Novelist Iain Banks, left, died of the disease in June last year, while Apple founder and chief executive Steve Jobs, right, succumbed to it in October 2011
Professor David Cunningham, Director of Clinical Research at The Royal Marsden, said Pancreatic cancer is the fifth most common cancer, yet progress in treating the disease has been limited.
‘One-year survival for patients with pancreatic cancer is still less than 20 per cent and we have waited for many years for an alternative to current treatments.
‘Today’s news represents a significant step-forward in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
‘It is important that nab-paclitaxel, which has demonstrated an increase in overall survival, should be available for patients with this cancer.’
It is the first new medicine licensed for 17 years for the disease and the NHS rationing watchdog Nice will decide later this year whether it should be funded.
But makers Celgene are applying to the Cancer Drugs Fund next month to enable patents in England to get it in the meantime. Ali Stunt, chief executive of Pancreatic Cancer Action charity, said ‘Abraxane could really benefit eligible patients in the UK and Ireland.
‘For decades there have been very few treatment options for pancreatic cancer, therefore this news will be a welcome advance for patients who are at a stage in their life when time is at an absolute premium.’
Alex Ford, chief executive officer of Pancreatic Cancer UK charity, said ‘The specialist nurses on our Support Line assist patients and carers with questions around treatment and care on a daily basis.
‘With so few treatment options available to patients, we know that they want access to new and effective treatments such as Abraxane.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2552755/Drug-offers-new-hope-pancreatic-cancer-battle-Treatment-extend-life-two-months-licensed-use-UK.html#ixzz2sbUJUR4e
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
