Early access to experimental drugs for terminally ill

pharmafile | March 25, 2008 | News story | Sales and Marketing  

Terminally ill cancer patients are to get early access to developmental drugs in a bid to halve the time it takes to bring new treatments to the market.

The drugs would be offered to patients who have no other chance of recovery and they would only receive low doses at first.

The Department of Health has set up a network of 19 specialist centres where the drugs can be administered, led by St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, which will begin work on the programme in April.

Professor John Gribben from Barts and The London NHS Trust said patient safety would be paramount.

"We know for each product that comes along what the potential side effects might be, and we've got staff who spend a lot of time counseling patients before they sign up to make them aware of the risks and potential lack of benefits."

He added: "What we're looking for are drugs that will kill the cancer cells but leave the rest of the patient intact. We're always prepared for very unexpected effects."

The progress of patients who sign up to the programme will be closely monitored – blood samples will be analysed within 24 hours and treatment will only continue if it is shown to be effective.

Five of the new units are to be established in London and the rest will be set up in cities across the country.

Each will receive £2 million a year funding from the Department of Health, and Cancer Research UK will contribute £400,000 a year.

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