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| Saturday, 29 October 2005 11:42 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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Campaigners have welcomed moves to make a treatment for bowel cancer more widely available on the NHS in England and Wales.
Draft guidance by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended a combination treatment, which includes the drug Eloxatin, should be available for NHS patients.
It is believed that Eloxatin, used with 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and folinic acid (FA), offers a potential cure for patients with early stage bowel cancer.
The NICE recommendations came in draft guidance, which will be sent out to consultation before final guidance is issued in June for doctors in England and Wales.
International trials show that adding Eloxatin to the standard chemotherapy combination helps reduce the risk of relapse after surgery by 25%.
Hilary Whitaker, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: "It's impossible to overstate the importance of this decision by NICE for the thousands of people diagnosed every year with early stage bowel cancer.
"We want all eligible patients to have access to the best chance of cure and although the final guidance may take some months to be confirmed, patients should start speaking now to their clinicians to ensure that they are offered the option of the most effective treatment for their particular type of bowel cancer".
There is no ban on prescribing drugs that had not been appraised by NICE. Doctors can prescribe at their discretion.
Dr Harpreet Wasan, medical oncologist at Hammersmith Hospital in London, said: "This is a landmark decision by NICE in the treatment of bowel cancer, which will be welcomed by clinicians and patients alike”.
NICE said the proposals would have to be consulted on before any decision was taken.
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