Sarcoma UK is disappointed to see that life extending cancer drug trabectedin (Yondelis) will not be made available routinely on the NHS to sarcoma patients in Scotland.

Life extending cancer drug not will not be made available to all patients in Scotland .

Monday, December 9, 2019

Trabectedin, a chemotherapy drug which has been routinely available in the rest of the UK for over a decade, has been denied approval for regular use in Scotland by the Scottish Medicine Consortium.

This means that patients who are unable to use or have already received other chemotherapy drugs, such as doxorubicin, will have to go through a separate approval process to access further chemotherapy, where access is not guaranteed.

Trabectedin is used to treat advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) which is a cancer that can develop in muscle, fat, blood vessels, or any of the other tissues that support, surround and protect the organs of the body. It can also be used to treat other cancers, such as recurring ovarian cancer, when treatment with certain other types of chemotherapies have stopped working, or where patients cannot be given these medicines. It works by altering DNA cells in tumours which stops them being able to grow, develop and spread. [1] This drug is used to extend and enable a better quality of life while patients are being treated for sarcoma.

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