Kidney Cancer :: B.C. first to fund new drug therapies for kidney cancer

Patients with advanced kidney cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumours in British Columbia will be the first in Canada to benefit from coverage for the medication Sutent (sunitinib) or Nexavar (sorafenib), announced Health Minister George Abbott today.

?Living with cancer can be devastating for patients and their families,? said Abbott. ?Patients with kidney cancer and rare digestive system tumours will benefit from two new drug therapies as part of our battle to beat cancer.?

B.C. is the first province in Canada to fund treatment of these two drug therapies. In reaching its decision, the BC Cancer Agency completed a comprehensive scientific and economic review and developed treatment guidelines for patients receiving the medications.

?The BC Cancer Agency is committed to responding promptly to ensure patients have access to effective new therapies,? said Dr. Susan O?Reilly, vice president of cancer care at the BC Cancer Agency. ?We?re very pleased to provide new therapies for patients with advanced kidney cancer who previously had limited treatment options, and to provide a second line treatment to patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours.?

The funding commitment from the Ministry of Health, the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) and the BC Cancer Agency means that eligible patients with new diagnoses will have access to Sutent immediately, and patients who previously accessed the therapies through clinical trials or the manufacturers? extended access programs will continue to receive treatment.

An estimated 133 patients with kidney cancer will benefit from these drugs each year, at a projected cost of $2.4 million this fiscal year, and $3.6 million for 2008/09. Approximately 12 patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours will be treated with Sutent annually, at a projected cost of $300,000 for this fiscal year.

Sutent is the reference standard for first-line treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer, also known as metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Clinical trials have shown that patients treated with Sutent experienced more tumour shrinkage, tolerated treatment better than patients on Interferon ? the previous standard treatment, and delayed tumour progression, on average, for 11 months compared to five months. Patients who respond well will remain on therapy for much longer periods.

Nexavar is a chemotherapy drug for the treatment of a small subset of advanced kidney cancer patients who have failed treatment with Interferon and are unsuitable for Sutent. Nexavar has been shown to be well-tolerated by patients and to delay tumour progression for twice as long as with patients treated with the former standard second-line therapy.

Sutent will also be available for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumour, a rare stomach and intestinal cancer, who have failed prior therapy with Gleevec (imatinib mesylate).

Ian Hazenberg, diagnosed in 2004 with kidney cancer that later spread to his lungs despite surgery, celebrated his 50th birthday this July ? a milestone he did not think he?d reach when he was first diagnosed. A BC Cancer Agency clinical trial that treated his advanced kidney cancer with Sutent has given him and his wife new hope.

?If it wasn?t for the clinical trial, I would be dead now,? said Hazenberg, who is once again hiking and working out, activities he enjoyed prior to his cancer diagnosis. ?Prior to joining the study, the tumour was over nine centimetres, but the treatment has shrunk it to something barely noticeable.?

The BC Cancer Agency has already conducted preliminary analysis of the survival benefit for renal cancer patients in B.C. treated with Sutent though clinical trials and the manufacturer?s extended access program. ?Our analysis has shown a survival advantage emerging compared to our previous limited therapy for this difficult to treat cancer,? explained Dr. O?Reilly.

B.C.?s investment in cancer care and control has increased substantially in the last few years. Overall drug costs for the BC Cancer Agency were $37.4 million in 2000/01, and are projected to increase to $114 million.

In 2007, an estimated 420 British Columbians will be diagnosed with kidney cancer and 200 will die of it. Almost two thirds of those diagnosed with kidney cancer will be male. One in 125 females and one in 79 males is expected to develop kidney cancer during their lifetime.

The Ministry of Health, PHSA and the BC Cancer Agency have also approved funding for Caelyx (pegylated liposomal doxorubin), an intravenous chemotherapy drug for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in women who have failed standard first-line therapy. It is estimated that up to 150 women in B.C. can benefit from this drug each year, at a projected cost of $862,000 for the current fiscal year and just over $1 million for 2008/09. The role of the drug is to relieve symptoms of progressive ovarian cancer and maintain quality of life.


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