DRAFT NATIONAL INSITUTE FOR HEALTH AND CARE EXCELLENCE GUIDANCE FOR THE USE OF ENZALUTAMIDE

That this House notes with concern that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued a draft recommendation which will limit the use of the drug enzalutamide, a life extending treatment for men in the final stages of prostate cancer, only to those men who have not received another drug called abiraterone; further notes with concern that this decision will result in men having no other options on the NHS; is aware that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, that 36,566 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and that 10,000 men die from the disease in England and Wales every year; further notes that there is no way for clinicians to tell which treatment - enzalutamide or abiraterone - will work best for men, making it important for both treatment options to be available to men without this restriction; calls on the Government to ensure that men with prostate cancer are able to access both cancer drugs to treat their health condition and to help prolong their life; and further calls on NICE to reconsider its draft decision and recommend enzalutamide as an alternative treatment to abiraterone, if their clinicians prescribe it.