SCOTTISH IMPERIALISM - ENGLAND MUST GET INDEPENDENCE FROM SELF-OBSESSED, GREEDY SCOTLAND
20,000 'may go blind' after being denied sight-saving drug available to Scots
By JENNY HOPE, Daily Mail
7th August 2006
20,000 'may go blind' after being denied sight-saving drug available to Scots
Thousands of older people in England and Wales are being denied a sight-saving drug that has been approved for use in Scotland, it has emerged.
Campaigners claim at least 20,000 people will go blind unnecessarily because of delays by a drug 'rationing' watchdog.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is not due to start reviewing the use of Macugen until January 2007.
It could not be given the go-ahead until August next year at the earliest - by which time an estimated 20,000 people in England and Wales will have succumbed to the age-related condition.
Macugen is designed to combat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which normally affects people over 60, and is injected directly into the eye.
Steve Winyard, head of research for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, said doctors are allowed to prescribe Macugen, but it is not being used because of its £4,000 annual cost.
He said the expense means primary care trusts are failing to back the drug until they get a ruling from NICE.
But the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which is the equivalent body north of the border, has just approved the use of Macugen. Around 2,000 Scottish patients will benefit each year.
Mr Winyard said 'While it's great news that people in Scotland with wet AMD will be able to get treatment with Macugen, it doesn't help people with wet AMD in the rest of the UK.
'Patients' inability to obtain Macugen means that as many as 20,000 people will go blind unnecessarily over the next year.
'We believe NICE should be using its fast-track system to get Macugen reviewed more quickly.
'The delays appear to be due to the fact that the drug is not regarded as life-saving, but to many people losing their sight comes close to losing their lives.
'I would move to Scotland if I needed the drug because this condition can't wait' he added.
"Give us some more money, you wee English b**tards. And those sight-saving drugs? Yae can ferget about those. They ours! All ours! Hahaha!"
If administered as an early enough stage, Macugen can halt the spread of the disease by targeting abnormal blood vessels that grow behind the eyeball.
These vessels can leak and cause damage to parts of the eye responsible for central vision.
Patients affected by this end up with limited vision, while many go completely blind.
Macugen, also known as pegaptanib, is made by Pfizer.
A spokesman for NICE said: 'NICE has been asked to appraise both pegaptanib (Macugen) and ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
'Pegaptanib (Macugen) was licensed for use across Europe in February 2006, but ranibizumab (Lucentis) is not yet licensed for use in the UK.
'NICE will be in a position to issue guidance to advise on the effectiveness of both drugs after ranibizumab receives its licence, and is currently expecting to issue guidance to the NHS in August 2007.
'Topics for appraisal under the Institute's faster single technology appraisal process are selected by the Department of Health.
'There is no restriction on the prescribing of any drug, within its licensed indications, whilst NICE is developing guidance. In the absence of NICE guidance, local NHS organisations should develop their own prescribing policies.'
Readers' views
This report is shocking in the extreme. How can we continue to put up with a government which is so inept and biased in favour of anyone but the English?
- John, Bradford
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Is this anything to do with having so many Scots in positions of power in Blair's government whose main interest is in looking after their own?
- Stratford, Hampshire, England.
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We don't get anything, all we do is provide it for everyone else.
- Sue Delaney, Worthing, West Sussex
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dailymail.co.uk
20,000 'may go blind' after being denied sight-saving drug available to Scots
By JENNY HOPE, Daily Mail
7th August 2006
20,000 'may go blind' after being denied sight-saving drug available to Scots
Thousands of older people in England and Wales are being denied a sight-saving drug that has been approved for use in Scotland, it has emerged.
Campaigners claim at least 20,000 people will go blind unnecessarily because of delays by a drug 'rationing' watchdog.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is not due to start reviewing the use of Macugen until January 2007.
It could not be given the go-ahead until August next year at the earliest - by which time an estimated 20,000 people in England and Wales will have succumbed to the age-related condition.
Macugen is designed to combat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which normally affects people over 60, and is injected directly into the eye.
Steve Winyard, head of research for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, said doctors are allowed to prescribe Macugen, but it is not being used because of its £4,000 annual cost.
He said the expense means primary care trusts are failing to back the drug until they get a ruling from NICE.
But the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which is the equivalent body north of the border, has just approved the use of Macugen. Around 2,000 Scottish patients will benefit each year.
Mr Winyard said 'While it's great news that people in Scotland with wet AMD will be able to get treatment with Macugen, it doesn't help people with wet AMD in the rest of the UK.
'Patients' inability to obtain Macugen means that as many as 20,000 people will go blind unnecessarily over the next year.
'We believe NICE should be using its fast-track system to get Macugen reviewed more quickly.
'The delays appear to be due to the fact that the drug is not regarded as life-saving, but to many people losing their sight comes close to losing their lives.
'I would move to Scotland if I needed the drug because this condition can't wait' he added.
"Give us some more money, you wee English b**tards. And those sight-saving drugs? Yae can ferget about those. They ours! All ours! Hahaha!"
If administered as an early enough stage, Macugen can halt the spread of the disease by targeting abnormal blood vessels that grow behind the eyeball.
These vessels can leak and cause damage to parts of the eye responsible for central vision.
Patients affected by this end up with limited vision, while many go completely blind.
Macugen, also known as pegaptanib, is made by Pfizer.
A spokesman for NICE said: 'NICE has been asked to appraise both pegaptanib (Macugen) and ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
'Pegaptanib (Macugen) was licensed for use across Europe in February 2006, but ranibizumab (Lucentis) is not yet licensed for use in the UK.
'NICE will be in a position to issue guidance to advise on the effectiveness of both drugs after ranibizumab receives its licence, and is currently expecting to issue guidance to the NHS in August 2007.
'Topics for appraisal under the Institute's faster single technology appraisal process are selected by the Department of Health.
'There is no restriction on the prescribing of any drug, within its licensed indications, whilst NICE is developing guidance. In the absence of NICE guidance, local NHS organisations should develop their own prescribing policies.'
Readers' views
This report is shocking in the extreme. How can we continue to put up with a government which is so inept and biased in favour of anyone but the English?
- John, Bradford
------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this anything to do with having so many Scots in positions of power in Blair's government whose main interest is in looking after their own?
- Stratford, Hampshire, England.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
We don't get anything, all we do is provide it for everyone else.
- Sue Delaney, Worthing, West Sussex
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
dailymail.co.uk