Category Archives: Policy

Transforming the environment for UK health research

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A cancer patient and a nurse

Our new report talks about improving health research

The forecast for health research in the UK is looking brighter.

That was the mood at the meeting of the UK research community– including Cancer Research UK, industry, Government, regulators, patient representatives, academics and NHS organisations.

Today, together with the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) and the Wellcome Trust, we’re releasing a report of the meeting, which talks about how the research community can improve health research in the UK.

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Abiraterone: now available on the NHS (except in Scotland)

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Thumbs up

Prostate cancer drug abiraterone has been given the thumbs up by NICE

Regular readers will know that we’ve been keenly following the story of abiraterone – a prostate cancer drug developed by British scientists – since 2008.

So we hope you share our delight over this morning’s news, that NICE and pharma company Janssen have finally reached an agreement, and the drug will now be available to suitable men on the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

NICE say they were able to reach their decision after Janssen gave them additional data about the number of men the drug will be suitable for, which men it will benefit most, and – crucially – offered the NHS a better deal on the drug’s price.

This is fantastic news.

All suitable men in these three countries will be now able to easily access the drug, which can dramatically improve quality of life, and offers men with advanced prostate cancer extra time with their families and friends.

But let’s be clear. Abiraterone was licensed in the EU in September 2011. It is now May 2012. In the eight months it took for the regulatory horse-trading to run its course, depending on where they live, some men with advanced prostate cancer in the UK have been able to get it easily, whereas others have had to get their doctors to apply for access on an individual basis.

On top of this, since the Scottish NHS has a separate system, until we hear the results of an appeal, Scottish doctors continue to have to jump through similar bureaucratic hoops to get the drug for their patients.

So our joy is tempered with yet more frustration that, despite recent political focus, the UK’s drug approval systems still aren’t working nearly as efficiently as they should.

And while the high cost of new drugs is a fundamental issue here, we also need reform, so that the UK’s cancer patients aren’t left stranded and without options available to their counterparts in other countries.

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A personal experience of treating lung cancer patients

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Patient consultation

What is it like to work as a lung cancer nurse?

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world. Over 1.6 million people across the globe were diagnosed with the disease in 2008 (the last comprehensive count). That’s more than 4,300 people every day.

But these chilling numbers aren’t the ones we think of, or are aware of, when we try that first tentative, rather unpleasant puff. A puff that, for some, is a step on the path to addiction. An addiction that can lead to death.

Tobacco is at the root of a whole variety of cancers. But the one most associated with it is lung cancer.

With this in mind, we’ve asked one of our cancer information nurses – Caroline – to share her experience of working as a lung cancer nurse, and describe what it’s like to care for cancer patients.

This post also comes after the government launched a public consultation on the the future of tobacco packaging, and whether all branding should be removed to help reduce the appeal of tobacco to young people. We believe this will be effective and we’ve launched The Answer is Plain campaign so the public can show their support. 

Please keep one simple statistic at the back of your mind when reading this – nine in ten lung cancer deaths are down to smoking.

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Plain packaging reaction: separating fact from fiction

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Girl looking at plain pack

We separate fact from fiction about plain cigarette packaging

Since we launched our campaign to put tobacco products in plain packs, it’s been interesting to read some of the reactions in the media – particularly those of the tobacco industry.

Several points stand out that are worth discussing.

Firstly, in an interview in the Telegraph, the chief executive of Imperial Tobacco, Alison Cooper confirmed that her company would mount a legal challenge if the UK government was to force tobacco to be sold in standardised packets.

Fiction: The tobacco industry claims that plain packaging is confiscating the property of tobacco companies and could result in significant legal and compensation costs for governments.

Fact: The trademarks are not being ‘acquired’ by anyone – it is just their use that is being restricted. International treaties on intellectual property have opt-outs for public health .

On top of this, the Telegraph article goes on to say: “The industry calculates one in four cigarettes smoked in the UK is bought from smugglers or counterfeiters – a figure that is expected to rise if the industry is regulated more tightly.”

The tobacco industry exaggerates the scale of smuggling. While still a problem, it has halved  [pdf] since its peak, to one in ten cigarettes. This is due to better enforcement by government agencies and strict curbs on the tobacco industry’s own activities as they have a poor record on smuggling. For example, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, most illicit cigarettes were genuine products manufactured in the UK, exported to continental Europe and then smuggled back to the UK.

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Plain tobacco packs awaken a sleeping tobacco industry

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Australia has passed legislation – due to come into effect in December 2012 – to standardise all tobacco packaging, removing all branding and imagery. As the UK government consults on the future of tobacco packaging, Cancer Research UK asked Professor Simon Chapman for his perspective on the Australian experience. 

Cancer Research UK has launched “The Answer is Plain” campaign to raise awareness of the issue, alongside a hard-hitting short film that illustrates children’s attraction to the slickly designed cigarette packs.

Simon Chapman

Professor Simon Chapman is professor of public health at the University of Sydney

In the past 20 months, Australian news audiences have been exposed to some exotic, thought-to-be-extinct species on their screens and radios. After more than 15 years, the tobacco industry dodo is back and walking among us, attempting to fly.

Australia’s pioneering plain packaging legislation has brought them out into public, in a desperate effort to prevent the fall of a domino that promises to cascade globally, ending the industry’s centre-piece of tobacco promotion: the lure of the pack.

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