Cancer: Only some PMI providers offer new 'gold standard' cancer drugs
By Lucy Quinton
A mixed response has been shown by private medical insurance (PMI) providers as to whether they cover the three new drugs set to be available on the NHS to women with early-stage breast cancer, it has emerged.
The three new 'gold standard' drugs, anastrozole (sold as arimidex), letrozole (sold as femara) and exemestane (sold as aromasin), have proven to significantly reduce the risk of the disease returning and improve survival in post-menopausal women whose cancers are fuelled by the female hormone oestrogen.
Lydia Aydon, spokesperson at Bupa, confirmed that it did "fund these for insured members". She said: "We fund several cancer drugs that aren't available on the NHS or may not have been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice). There is no cap on what we fund, we are one of the few health insurers to cover people for their cancer throughout the whole of their treatment."
Axa spokesperson, Ben Faulkner, said it did not cover these outpatient drugs adding that they were not as expensive as herceptin.
Commenting on behalf of Standard Life, spokesperson Amanda Blanks, admitted that it too, "did not cover the cost of the three drugs concerned as they provide long-term therapy taken on an outpatient basis to maintain a patient's state of health and hopefully prevent a re-occurrence of the cancer"
This revelation came at the same time as local healthcare trusts are set to receive guidelines from Nice instructing them to fund the provision of the drugs, also called aromatase inhibitors.
The golden three will replace tamoxifen, which for more than 20 years has been the preferred treatment for women with this common form of cancer.
It has been reported that some patients have already persuaded their trust to fund aromatase inhibitors, but this latest development is set to help thousands of women who have been turned down or have not known about the improved outcomes associated with taking them.
Another breast cancer drug now available is Herceptin, which stops one of the ways in which cancer cells divide and grow. The drug works by sticking to HER2 proteins so the cancer cells are no longer stimulated. It also helps the body's immune system destroy breast cancer cells.
British women have a one in nine chance of developing breast cancer. Tamoxifen is credited with having helped over 20,000 survive since the 1980s and doctors believe aromatase inhibitors could save even more lives.
