Men with prostate cancer and women with breast cancer will benefit from two new advanced treatments that will prolong their life.
The National Institute of excellence in health and social services (INESSS) approved in recent weeks the drugs Perjeta (breast) and Xofigo (prostate), which will give new life to patients with an aggressive form of these cancers.
The Perjeta was expected for at least two years from the middle.”Yes, we are very pleased that Quebec can finally have access, but it is the last province in Canada to take this medication there,” said Nathalie Rodrigue, President of the Coalition Priority Cancer.
Combined with chemotherapy and the drug Herceptin (already approved and used in Quebec), the Perjeta developed by the Swiss laboratory Roche increased nearly 16-month patient survival, according to a study by the laboratory last year and supported by INESSS.
These months additional survival constitute “progress rarely seen in clinical trials in advanced cancer,” reported Agence France-Presse in September.
The INESS initially refused to register the Perjeta on its list of drugs that hospitals have the right to use. The product remained several months on the list of drugs still under study. He was finally approved by the Health Minister and adding to the list July 15.”Once it is approved, it makes it available as quickly as possible, so as not to cause harm to patients,” says Olivia Jacques, spokesman INESSS.
It is estimated that adding the drug will cost about $ 32.6 million over three years to health facilities.
Prostate cancer
Produced by the Ontario Bayer pharmaceutical, Xofigo, chloride radium 223, enables addressing of patients with metastatic prostate cancer resistant to hormone therapy. Quebec is the third province to accept, after Ontario and British Columbia.
In its most virulent form, prostate cancer often attacks the bones, causing severe pain or fractures. “When the bones are attacked, it is a disaster. I have seen people who have even paralyzed, no longer had any quality of life,” said Dr. Fred Saad, director of urologic oncology at the CHUM.
The Xofigo should prolong the life of at least “half the 1,000 Canadians who die [prostate cancer] every year,” says Dr. Saad, adding that the drug has few side effects and is tolerated by elderly patients.
INESSS estimates that this new drug extends 3.6 months of life expectancy of patients and will have a budgetary impact of $ 21,4millions over three years in various hospitals in Quebec.
“That is why three months? For a patient with cancer, that means quality time, in addition to the possibility of falling into another research protocol to fight the disease again, all possible advances, “says Laurent Proulx, CEO Procure, a self-help organization on prostate cancer.
Mr. Proulx welcomes the addition of this drug to the list, so that Quebeckers have access to a variety of treatments to target that best helps.
