British NHS Denies Treatment Based on 'Exceptionality'

(UK) A life-extending drug is being denied as treatment for cancer patients who are non-exceptional. Meanwhile, cancer sufferers have not been told how to achieve exceptional status.

A CANCER patient has been denied NHS funding for a new cancer drug which could add years to his life.

It means that health specialists will be unable to prescribe Everolimus, which costs about £40,000 a year and can extend lives by up to two years.

Doctors treating Graeme Johnstone, 54, from Middleton St George, near Darlington applied to the local primary care trust for funding for the drug. But NHS County Durham and Darlington rejected the request.

Fully licensed, and widely available in France and Canada, Everolimus, also known as Affinitor, has a proven track record. But so far it is not being made available through the NHS after the body which vets new drugs – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) – decided not to recommend it.

Controversially, Nice uses a formula which calculates whether life-extending drugs represent good value for money.

It's also reported that besides Mr. Johnstone, another person has been deemed non-exceptional by NICE and also denied the cancer drug treatment. Mr. Fred Binch, 78, was denied treatment by the North Yorkshire NHS. He accused the primary care trust of "playing God."

Incidentally, NICE is obviously a misleading acronym for an organization which throws people under the bus.

Speculating, one might logically assume that ObamaCare will also be treating patients based on their "exceptionality," whatever that is.