PATIENTS suffering from prostate cancer should be given a life-prolonging drug before they start chemotherapy, a charity has said.
At the moment patients in Scotland have to wait until they have undergone chemotherapy before they are offered abiraterone despite research evidence which shows using it first can extend lives.
In England around 4,500 men have been given abiraterone early as a result of the Cancer Drugs Fund. The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) is due to decide whether doctors in Scotland can prescribe the drug in this way early next month.
Prostate Cancer UK has appealed to the SMC to approve wider use of the treatment on the NHS.
It came as research carried out by the charity found that men in Scotland do get by with a little help from their friends. Nine out of 10 men told Prostate Cancer UK that seeing their mates is good for their health and well being - a higher proportion than in England where the percentage was 84%.
The charity released the findings of their poll as part of their Men United campaign - which is seeking action on male health issues.
Owen Sharp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK, said: "Few things could do more to keep friendships alive than the approval of a life-enhancing and life-extending treatment for men with incurable prostate cancer.
"Men United is our movement for everyone who believes that men are worth fighting for, and I have that whole movement behind me when I reiterate our call for the SMC to do the right thing and approve this treatment for use in Scotland.
"The treatment is widely available in England via the Cancer Drugs Fund, and it's vital that it becomes routinely available throughout Scotland and indeed the whole of the UK as soon as possible."
The phase three trial of using abiraterone prior to chemotherapy showed the treatment delayed the start of chemotherapy by an average of 9.7 months and increased overall survival by an average of 5.2 months. Using it after chemotherapy has been shown to add almost four extra months to patients' lives.
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