4:54am UK, Wednesday September 21, 2011
The cancer drug that has kept the Lockerbie bomber alive for nearly two years longer than expected has been launched in Britain.
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Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi was told he had three months to live when he was released on compassionate grounds from a Scottish jail in 2009.
But on his return to Libya he was given abiraterone, a new drug for advanced prostate cancer, which has greatly extended his life.
The drug has now been launched in the UK, following approval by European medical authorities two weeks ago.
Clinical trials show the £3000-a-month drug can extend survival by around five months.
But doctors say some men live considerably longer.
Abiraterone on the production line
Dr Heather Payne, a consultant at The Prostate Centre in London told Sky News: "This is a big breakthrough. It became quite obvious during the trial which men were being treated with the drug rather than the placebo dummy pill.
"Their pain improved, their quality of life improved, and tests showed the cancer getting better."
The drug is available to men with prostate cancer that has spread to other organs and who are no longer responding to conventional hormonal treatments.
It was discovered by Cancer Research UK and the Institute of Cancer Research and was then extensively tested on British men.
John Ward took part in a study of the drug in 2007. His cancer had spread to his spine and he was told he only had a year or two to live.
He's still healthy enough today to continue working in the film industry.
"I don't think I would be alive today if it wasn't for abiraterone," he said.
"I was unfortunate in having an aggressive form of prostate cancer. But the drug has kept the cancer stable - in fact it has shrunk slightly."
Harpal Kumar of Cancer Research UK said: "We're delighted to see that abiraterone is now available in the UK, especially given the role Cancer Research UK played in the early stages of its development.
"It could help treat the 10,000 men diagnosed with aggressive forms of advanced prostate cancer in the UK each year.
"It's important that promising new drugs are made available to patients who need them."
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is expected to decide in 2012 whether the drug will formally be made available on the NHS.
Until then men can either pay for the drug privately, or apply for funding from the government's Cancer Drugs Fund.
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