Cancer victims 'forced into debt' to pay for medicines freely available elsewhere in Europe

The NHS drugs rationing body is forcing cancer patients to remortgage their homes to pay for medicines freely available elsewhere in Europe, senior doctors warned yesterday.

More than 20 leading cancer consultants said they were 'dismayed' at guidance issued by NICE - the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - to refuse four kidney cancer drugs on the NHS.

Accusing NICE of rationing too severely, they called for a radical change in the way the NHS makes decisions.

Among the 26 signatories is Professor Karol Sikora, one of Britain's leading cancer experts and former chief of the World Health Organisation Cancer Programme.

The outcry follows draft guidelines from NICE this month on the drugs sunitinib, bevacizumab, sorafenib and temsirolimus.

The body concluded that the therapies --which can extend a patient's life by months - were not good value.

Cancer doctors warned that around 3,600 patients would die more quickly.

Now, in a letter to the Sunday Times, some of the UK's most eminent doctors have added to the criticism.

'Once again NICE has shown how poorly it assesses new cancer treatments,' they said.

'Its economic formulae are simply not suitable in this area of medicine.

'It is essential that NICE gets its sums right. We have already seen distraught patients remortgaging their houses, giving up pensions and selling cars to buy drugs that are freely available to those using health services in countries of comparable wealth.'

The consultants, who include the directors of oncology at Britain's two biggest cancer hospitals, the Royal Marsden in London and Christie Hospital in Manchester, said it was not right that the NHS cannot find the money for the drugs.

'We now spend similar amounts to Europe on health generally and cancer care in particular-but less than two-thirds of the European-average on cancer drugs,' they said.

'It just can't be that everybody else around the world is wrong about access to innovative cancer care and the NHS right in rationing it so severely.'

They concluded: 'The time has come for a radical change in how the NHS makes rationing decisions for cancer.' The signatories include Professor Adrian Harris of Oxford University, Professor David Cunningham of the Royal Marsden and Professor Tim Illidge of Christie Hospital, Manchester.

NICE was set up in 1999 to end the postcode lottery of NHS treatment, but is increasingly under fire for its rulings.

Critics say it fails to take into account the fact that the cost of drugs falls if they become widely available, of economies of scale. Its rationing policies also deter drug companies from investing in expensive new drugs.

NICE chief executive Andrew Dillon said the NHS did not have unlimited funds. He said: 'If one group of patients is provided with cost-ineffective care, other groups --lacking powerful lobbyists - will be denied cost-effective care for miserable conditions like Crohn's disease or cystic fibrosis.'

Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris said the consultants were aiming at the wrong target.

The former hospital doctor said: ' Attacking NICE is simply shooting the messenger and letting politicians off the hook.

'The Government must let NICE get its teeth into vetoing the millions of pounds the NHS spends on wasteful political initiatives - like over-paying private firms to cream off routine cases - and on totally ineffective treatments like homeopathy.

'That could save the money needed for effective but expensive cancer drugs.'