It is time to right a cancer wrong

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Pauline Latham OBE MP says the rise in cases of advanced Melanoma clearly demonstrates a requirement to address the unmet need in treatment.

In July last year, shockwaves were sent through the medical world when an innovative and life-prolonging drug called Ipilimumab was launched in the UK for the treatment of advanced melanoma, having received a licence of approval from the European Medical Agency.

This was the first major development in the treatment of advanced melanoma in over 30 years, with treatment options being extremely limited.

With the current treatment available to patients with the disease being a chemotherapy drug called Dacarbazine, which was first licensed in the 1970s, it is understandable that patients and all cancer stakeholders were ecstatic to hear that a new drug, called Ipilimumab, or Yervoy, under its trade name, had received such approval, and could help to prolong lives.

Advanced melanoma is an incredibly aggressive disease, and sadly the British Journal of Cancer expect the incidence to rise by 52 per cent in both men and women by 2030. This statistic is shocking, and clearly demonstrates a requirement to address the unmet need in treatment.

Ipilimumbab works in a new and unique way by a form of immunotherapy. It works by encouraging the immune system to produce more cancer-killing cells, something that has not been available to patients before.

However, to the disappointment of all stakeholders, in October last year, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) announced that they would not be recommending this drug for the treatment of advanced melanoma on the NHS, as they did not consider it to be cost-effective.

In response to this, I took two forms of action. Firstly, I chaired a meeting in the House of Commons, inviting patients, carers, clinicians, charities and parliamentarians alike to come together and discuss their concerns over the negative preliminary guidance given by NICE. We prepared a report from this meeting, which was submitted to NICE the next day, in anticipation that it would be considered ahead of the NICE Technology Appraisal Meeting later in November. I am still waiting for their response.

The second form of action I took was to request an adjournment debate in order to be able to raise the topic in front of the minister and to put on record the implications that NICE’s recommendations could have. This will take place this afternoon.

Whilst working on these projects, I have met a number of patients with advanced melanoma, and their experiences have been distressing.

One of the many tragic aspects of melanoma is that it strikes very often the younger generation – over a third of all cases of melanoma occur in people below the age of 55. What we must therefore consider beyond this statistic is the fact that so many people within the age group will by that point in their life have had children, and so whilst facing such an aggressive disease, they must also face the risk of leaving their children.

The patients with advanced melanoma echoed such a simple, yet dignified point: they are simply desperate to stay alive so that they can have more time with their children, their family and friends.

I can add a personal plea for help because my own brother died from a malignant melanoma 11 years ago this month at the age of 54, one week after his birthday, and left his wife and two teenage children.

For patients and their families today, to know that there is a drug on the market which extends patients’ lives, and not to be able to access it, will be hugely distressing, and I cannot sit by and allow that to happen.

On a number of occasions, I have voiced my concerns over the difficulties that cancer patients can face when it comes to gaining access to treatments, and I will continue to do the same when it comes to Ipilimumab with equal vigour.

Ipilimumab is available in some parts of England through the Cancer Drugs Fund, but it is not available in all areas, and the Cancer Drugs Fund does not even exist in Wales. This is an example of an inequality that arises from the Cancer Drugs Fund, and an example of a postcode lottery.

There are enormous concerns that without a positive decision from NICE regarding Ipilimumab, patients could miss out on a lifeline to have extra time with their loved ones, and that is simply just wrong.

Pauline Latham OBE has been Conservative MP for Mid Derbyshire since 2010.