Victory in sight on drug cures
By Tony Watts - Editor - 14/01/2008
The start of 2008 has begun with the promise of positive outcomes for two campaigns that Mature Times has been supporting.
The campaign to persuade NICE to make sight-saving drugs available to thousands of people with AMD looks close to being won. Our headlines highlighted the heartlessness of a policy that meant a person would have to wait to lose the sight of one eye before becoming eligible for treatment.
Revised draft guidance on the drugs published by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) will throw a lifeline to thousands at risk of going blind, following a dramatic U-turn by the Institute.
NICE received a record response from over 13,000 people who were outraged at their previous recommendations to limit the use of anti-VEGF drugs (Macugen and Lucentis) to treat wet AMD in only 20% of patients.
RNIB's head of campaigns Steve Winyard said: “26,000 people in the UK develop wet-AMD each year and there are desperate people across the country being denied drugs that could stop them from going blind. These new recommendations mean that thousands could soon have their sight saved.
“NICE has recognised the weight of evidence and the strength of public opinion and performed a major U-turn. This is a tremendous victory for the thousands of people who demanded of NICE that they save sight, not money. NICE have finally thrown a lifeline to the thousands of patients who are routinely refused the sight-saving treatments they desperately need.”
RNIB hopes that the latest appraisal from NICE will put much needed pressure on Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to end the postcode lottery in relation to anti-VEGF treatments and make them widely available.
“This is brilliant news,” said Christina Nicolaidou, RNIB’s Communications Officer. “Thanks to everyone who played a part in the campaign - you and your readers at Mature Times are very much included. I think together we've all done a fantastic job!”
Sativex hope for MS sufferers
Last July the Mature Times broke the story of a woman suffering from Multiple Sclerosis who had trialled the legal cannabis-based spray, Sativex, which greatly improved her chronic pain - but was then denied the drug by her local PCT. Despite lengthy appeals to the “not normally funded exceptional appeals panel” and the full support of her GP, she remains condemned to live in crippling pain. Her experience, and that of others, has raised the question why Sativex, which has been properly trialled and is available on prescription in other countries, is not been made available in the UK.
But a recent development may now bring hope to thousands. The government’s drugs safety body has taken the unprecedented step of publishing a “public information report” about Sativex on its website. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the body had never before published such guidance on an unlicensed drug - but was prompted to do so by the “high level of political and media interest in Sativex”.
A GW Pharmaceuticals spokesman said: “The real significance of this is that the MHRA has acknowledged that there is a huge public interest in Sativex and is providing information to prescribers while we go through the final piece of the jigsaw as far as the regulatory procedure is concerned.” The company now expects to submit a new application for approval.