CANCER sufferers in England are to be denied a life-extending drug because the Government’s drugs rationing watchdog has refused to fund treatment, it was claimed last night.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence will announce next week that Velcade should not be offered on the NHS to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. A course of Velcade costs between £9,000 and £18,000 and was approved for use in Scotland in 1994.

Cancer charities and victims of the disease criticised the decision by NICE, saying that it was the latest example of the watchdog trying to save the Government money by rejecting drugs that increase life expectancy.

Since June, NICE has refused to endorse five treatments that would extend the lives of people with bowel cancer, leukaemia and breast cancer, as well as Alzheimer’s disease.

Janice Wrigglesworth, 59, from Keighley, in West Yorkshire, has multiple myeloma. She condemend the decision as insanity.

She said: “Are they saying a Scottish life is worth more than an English life? “They are effectively saying to people with incurable diseases, ‘sit down in a darkened room and die’.”

NICE refused to comment on next week’s announcement. However, a spokesman said: “NICE’s expert advisers review all the evidence on cancer treatments to determine whether they add benefits for patients when compared to other treatments that are already available.

“The benefits that we assess include whether a drug extends life, and whether a drug improves patients’ quality of life.”

A Department of Health spokesman said that it could not comment until the guidance was published.

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