James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer welcomes NICE’s approval of drug in the fight against kidney cancer

The UK’s leading specialist kidney cancer charity has welcomed the news that NICE has approved GlaxoSmithKline’s Votrient for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell cancer. However, following on from recent news that cancer survival rates in Britain lag behind those in other Western European countries, the Fund has expressed concern that more needs to be done.

Rose Woodward, a kidney cancer survivor and Head of Patient Support at James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer said;

“We are relieved that NICE has recognised the importance that there must be more than one type of drug to treat late stage kidney cancer. Until today there has only been one drug available to clinicians to prescribe to their patients and this has proven not to be effective for everyone. We hope that Votrient will help fill that gap. We have campaigned for many years for more drugs like Votrient to be made readily available because kidney cancer is a type of cancer that is very difficult to treat. It cannot be treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy like many other cancers. Once kidney cancer spreads, these new drugs are the only hope that patients have to extend their life.”

Broadcaster James Whale, founder and Chairman of James Whale Fund for kidney Cancer and a kidney cancer survivor said;

“Kidney cancer patients will find this approval of the cancer drug Votrient a great comfort so close to Christmas. NICE has been fully aware that the mood of the Government and the general public is that terminally ill cancer patients should not be denied cancer treatment and, after the farce surrounding the refusal of Everolimus earlier last month, some good news is long overdue. As someone who has been directly affected by kidney cancer, I understand just how imperative access to these life-prolonging drugs is.”

Julia Black, member of the Patient Advocate Team for James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer said;

“The UK’s cancer death rate is currently higher than the European average and NICE’s decisions are having a profound effect on the way we treat our cancer patients and the quality of health care available. It leaves UK kidney cancer patients at a major disadvantage in terms of the availability of state-of-the-art cancer drugs, and this means patients in the UK are likely to die prematurely compared to the rest of Europe and the USA. This is unacceptable. We are forever hopeful that NICE will now see the need for a second-line treatment and look forward to the appeal for Everolimus at the end of February 2011.”

Editor’s Notes:

James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer is the UK’s leading kidney cancer charity and was set up in 2006 by broadcaster James Whale who lost a kidney to cancer. Today James continues to lead a full and busy life, as do the majority of people who are diagnosed and treated early. Every year almost 7,000 people in the UK learn that they have kidney cancer; that’s over 16 people a day. And yet the condition – the eighth most common cancer among men – rarely attracts much public attention. Our mission at the James Whale Fund is to try and change that.

For more information about James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer, please visit www.jameswhalefund.org or email Freddie Johnson at freddie@fullportion.com or call 0845 225 1500.