Lifeline prostate cancer drug offered to thousands within weeks

Thousands of men with prostate cancer are set to get a life-extending drug on the NHS within weeks – in a breakthrough that could give families precious extra years together.

For the first time, patients whose prostate cancer has not spread will be eligible for the drug abiraterone in England, after NHS chiefs widened access to the treatment.

Around 2,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the past three months are expected to benefit immediately if clinical assessments show they are likely to gain from the drug. 

A further 7,000 men a year are expected to become eligible following diagnosis.

Abiraterone works by starving prostate cancer of the hormones it needs to grow, including testosterone, helping to stop the disease spreading. 

The drug has already been used on the NHS to treat advanced prostate cancer and is now available as a lower-cost generic medicine.

Clinical trials show the treatment can dramatically improve survival for men with earlier-stage disease. 

After six years, 86 per cent of men taking abiraterone were still alive, compared with 77 per cent of those receiving standard treatment, including hormone therapy with or without radiotherapy.

The drug also doubles the length of time patients live without their cancer progressing – from roughly 15 months to 33 months.

For certain high-risk patients, research published last year indicated abiraterone could almost halve the risk of death – from 17 per cent down to nine per cent after five years. 

New AI tools currently being trialled in NHS hospitals are helping clinicians determine which of these high-risk men are most likely to benefit from the drug.

More than 63,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year across the UK – and roughly 12,000 men die from it.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said the rollout would offer men a vital lifeline, drawing on his own experience of cancer.

‘I will always be grateful to the NHS staff who threw me a lifeline,’ he said.

‘My timely diagnosis of kidney cancer, the cutting-edge treatment, and exceptional care which followed saved my life – and gave me my future back.

‘For men living with prostate cancer, that lifeline can now come in the form of a drug treatment, abiraterone.’

Mr Streeting added: ‘Thanks to the roll out of abiraterone, which greatly improves survival rates beyond six years, thousands of fathers, sons, brothers, partners and husbands will be able to face a future they feared they might never see.’

NHS England said it had been able to approve wider access after securing better value for medicines, allowing savings to be reinvested into new treatments.

The health service has set a target to save more than £1 billion on clinically effective biosimilar drugs during this parliament, with more than eight in ten medicines now prescribed as lower-cost biosimilar or generic versions.

Professor Peter Johnson, national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said the expanded access could be ‘life-changing’ for thousands of men, helping to keep their cancer at bay for several years.

NHS England has worked with campaigners, including Prostate Cancer UK, to secure the rollout.

In the past five years, it has also commissioned several other targeted prostate cancer drugs, including enzalutamide, darolutamide, relugolix and apalutamide.

Mr Streeting said the move showed renewed urgency around cancer care.

‘This latest roll out proves once again we’re serious about improving prostate cancer outcomes,’ he said.

‘And as we look ahead to the launch of our National Cancer Plan soon, patients should be reassured – whether its prostate or other forms of cancer, the NHS and this government are determined to keep shortening the odds in favour of healthier, longer lives for everyone.’

Responding to the news, trial co-lead Professor Gert Attard (UCL Cancer Institute) said: ‘This is a hugely welcome moment for patients. Our research showed clearly that abiraterone can save lives when offered earlier to men at high risk of their cancer spreading.

‘Funding for this disease indication is already available in Scotland and Wales, so we are delighted that NHS England has acted on this evidence and will now make this highly effective treatment routinely available.’

NHS has thrown men with prostate cancer a lifeline… just like it did for me

by Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health 

I will always be grateful to the NHS staff who threw me a lifeline. 

My timely diagnosis of kidney cancer, the cutting-edge treatment, and exceptional care which followed saved my life – and gave me my future back.

For men living with prostate cancer, that lifeline can now come in the form of a drug treatment, abiraterone.

It’s a sobering fact that one in eight men will get prostate cancer in their lifetimes.

Thanks to the roll out of abiraterone, which greatly improves survival rates beyond six years, thousands of fathers, sons, brothers, partners and husbands will be able to face a future they feared they might never see.

Around 2,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the last three months, whose cancer has not spread, will get access to the treatment if clinical assessments suggest they will benefit.

An additional 7,000 men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and will be eligible for the drug, given in combination with the steroid, prednisolone. The latter works by starving the disease of the hormones it needs to grow, including testosterone.

Research shows that for earlier stage patients, the survival rate after six years is significantly improved.

This latest roll out proves once again we’re serious about improving prostate cancer outcomes.

Like the tireless campaigners and cancer charities calling for faster access to life transforming treatments like this, I’m delighted NHS bosses have taken the steps needed to make the drug available.

Thousands of men can now look forward to many more days of happy, healthy living with friends, family and loved ones.

As we look ahead to the launch of our National Cancer Plan soon, patients should be reassured – whether its prostate or other forms of cancer, the NHS and this government are determined to keep shortening the odds in favour of healthier, longer lives for everyone.