The Scottish Medicines Consortium’s (SMC) has rejected the further use of use of enzalutamide

A cancer charity has hit out at the Scottish Medicines Consortium’s (SMC) decision to reject the further use of a life-prolonging and life-enhancing drug by NHS Scotland.

Prostate Cancer UK said the SMC’s decision to not make enzalutamide routinely available to men with incurable advanced prostate cancer who have not received chemotherapy denies them a clinically effective treatment.

The charity says the drug has been shown to extend life and delay the need for chemotherapy and its side effects.

It has been approved for routine use after chemotherapy but not for those who have not received treatment.

Owen Sharp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK, said: “The SMC’s decision to deny enzalutamide on NHS Scotland before chemotherapy is yet another intolerable blow to hundreds of men with incurable advanced prostate cancer.

“Some men with this type of prostate cancer want the option to delay chemotherapy. Others can’t or don’t want to have chemotherapy at all.

“Men in these situations need to be given access to the full range of effective treatment options. Instead today’s cruel decision leaves hundreds of men without active treatment, and some men with nowhere to turn but palliative care. When effective treatments are on the market but denied to men, this makes the pain all the more difficult to bear.”

Sharp called for the SMC and the manufacturer to work together immediately to get the treatment approved.

He added: “The men who need enzalutamide don’t have time to waste. Decency and common sense must prevail as soon as possible.”