Experts Appeal British Veto of Routine Use of 3 Chemotherapy Drugs for Colon Cancer

Cancer care specialists in Britain have urged the government to undertake an urgent review of a decision earlier this year to reject routine use of three chemotherapy drugs for colorectal cancer patients.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which evaluates drugs for Britain's National Health Service, ruled that oxaliplatin can only be used as a first-line combination treatment when the cancer has spread to the liver (see earlier Colorectal Cancer Week story).

Another drug irinotecan is not recommended for routine first-line treatment but can have limited use in second line treatment of the disease, the agency said. A third drug, raltitredex, is not recommended for use outside clinical studies, the agency ruled.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, 28 cancer care specialists said that on the basis of high quality clinical trials, the agency's decision to limit the use of irinotecan and oxaliplatin "will condemn National Health Service patients with this cancer to inferior treatment and reduced life expectancy"

And in an article published in the British Journal of Cancer, Dr Mark Saunders and Dr Juan Valle say the British agency's ruling is at odds with the oncologic drug advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as with much of Europe

They contend that by the time the agency reviews its guidance in 2005, "the use of [oxaliplatin and irinotecan] in North America and Europe will have become established and we will trail even further behind in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer."

Other Sources: British Journal of Cancer