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Scottish and Welsh patients may miss out on new cancer drugs
August 30, 2011
A new report has highlighted cross-border inequalities in access to new cancer drugs in England, Scotland and Wales.
People in Wales and Scotland who do not have private medical insurance may be less likely to get access to new cancer drugs than their English counterparts, a report suggests.
The Rarer Cancers Foundation (RCF) says that patients in Wales are five times less likely to be given a newer cancer drug than those in England, while people in Scotland are three times less likely to get newer drugs.
If levels of access were the same across the three nations, then 159 more patients in Wales and 248 more patients in Scotland would benefit each year.
According to the charity, these cross-border inequalities could be eradicated by spending just £1 more per person in Scotland and Wales each year.
Andrew Wilson, chief executive of the RCF, said that the introduction of the Cancer Drugs Fund in England was "great news", but that there was now a "devastating divide" with Scotland and Wales.
"People in Scotland and Wales will want to know why their chances of accessing a life-extending cancer drug are so much lower than their neighbours in England," he added.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish government told the BBC that some of the medicines cannot be recommended for use north of the border because their manufacturers have not requested approval from the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).
"We would encourage the pharmaceutical companies concerned to make submissions to the SMC so that their clinical and cost-effectiveness can be assessed," she added.
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