Watchdog will review the rejection of a life-extending blood cancer drug shown to add a year of life for patients

Thousands could soon benefit from a life-extending drug for blood cancer after the NHS spending watchdog was forced to review its decision to stop funding the treatment.

The drug – IsaPD – has been shown to add a year of life to patients with an incurable form of blood cancer, myeloma, but in June it was decided it was not value for money.

Earlier this year, The Mail on Sunday raised the alarm about the decision, which campaigners labeled a ‘huge blow’.

Now a leading charity has won a call to have the watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), reassess its initiative to reject the rollout of IsaPD to the health service.

A life-extending cancer drug could soon benefit thousands of people after a watchdog was forced to reconsider its decision to suspend offering the treatment because its value for money is flawed (file photo)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will review its decision to halt the rollout of IsaPD (file photo)

A 2021 study published in the medical journal The Oncologist found that the drug is twice as effective at improving patients’ life expectancy by one year compared to standard treatment. It is already available in Scotland after the Scottish Medical Consortium approved it in 2021.

Shelagh McKinlay, director of research and advocacy at Myeloma UK, said: ‘We urge them to do the right thing and make this life-changing treatment permanently available on the NHS as soon as possible.’

More than 24,000 people in Britain have myeloma, with around 6,000 new diagnoses every year. Most patients are older than 65 years. Symptoms include persistent bone pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and repeated infections.

IsaPD, which costs £2,000 a month, is a combination of isatuximab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone, which boosts the immune system to help find cancer cells hiding in the body.