A new treatment for advanced prostate cancer has been approved for use in Scotland, giving medical professionals a new way to tackle the disease.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) have sanctioned the use of a novel hormonal therapy by men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.
Joseph Woollcott, policy and health influencing manager at Prostate Cancer UK, welcomed the move. He said: "We are pleased by this decision, which will give men with advanced prostate cancer another life-extending treatment option.
"This is particularly important for men who can't tolerate existing treatments and who would otherwise miss out on valuable additional time with their loved ones."
According to the NHS, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with 11,500 deaths in the UK every year.
Apalutamide was considered for use to treat adults with prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Used alongside androgen deprivation therapy, apalutamide blocks the actions of testosterone and androgens, helping in slowing down the growth of the cancer.
Its use has life-extending benefits and offers an alternative treatment option to docetaxel chemotherapy, which carries significant side effects. It is also an alternative to abiraterone, which was approved for use in January 2020.
The SMC said that in making its decision it also took into account a confidential discount offered by the manufacturers of the treatment which improves its cost-effectiveness.
Prostate cancer symptoms
Most men with early prostate cancer don't display signs or symptoms. However, as the cancer progresses and the prostate grows larger, symptoms can begin to show, according to the NHS.
Prostate cancer's main symptoms include:
- Frequent or urgent need to urinate (frequency)
- Getting up more than once a night to pee (nocturia)
- Difficulty starting to urinate
- Weak urine stream or a stream that stops and starts
- Dribbling at the end of urination
- Inability to completely empty the bladder
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