WHILE moves to offer a new cancer drug on the NHS are to be welcomed, it highlights the thorny question of whether patients should be given costly treatments.

Eynsham cancer campaigner Clive Stone has welcomed news that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is supporting Axitinib for kidney cancer sufferers.

But it was only endorsed because it is seen to be a “cost-effective” treatment as well as a clinically-effective one. With a review under way of what drugs the Cancer Drugs Fund – set up to give people access to treatments not approved by NICE – will fund, we can expect to hear much more about this issue in the run-up to the General Election.