Fighting for medicare coverage for Velcade in Ontario
Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman defends the province's decision to deny payment for the cancer drug velcade, which is available worldwide and throughout the rest of Canada, by stating that velcade treatment for multiple myeloma offers marginal benefit. This is indeed news to me and my colleagues who specialize in treating this bone marrow cancer.
In reality, velcade has been universally hailed as a breakthrough drug in this disease, working in one of three patients when all else fails, the first such drug approved in 40 years by Health Canada, the FDA and the European Union for this purpose. The drug is even more effective used earlier in the disease course. Does the minister really believe that oncologists worldwide, the editorial staff at the New England Journal of Medicine and 50,000 patients treated to date are so gullible as to be swayed by "shrewd marketing campaigns"?
Ontario and its advisors must indeed be much smarter to have discovered something that those of us who treat and research the disease every day have missed. I no longer practise in Ontario but since leaving last year have heard regularly from my former colleagues and patients who are outraged but seemingly unable to overturn this well-intentioned but totally inappropriate decision.
The government should revisit the mistaken position it has adopted. In my opinion, myeloma and lymphoma patients in Ontario should seek any available legal recourse to overturn this state of affairs before more patients die prematurely.
On the other hand, perhaps the intelligent public of Ontario will demand better and the government will overturn this illogical decision with the haste that desperate patients require.
I acknowledge that I have been a consultant and an invited lecturer for the manufacturers of this drug and was actively engaged in clinical trials that proved its worth. Nevertheless, I am swayed only by the irrefutable evidence of clinical benefit in my patients.
Dr. A. Keith Stewart, Professor of Medicine,University of Toronto
Source: The Toronto Star
In reality, velcade has been universally hailed as a breakthrough drug in this disease, working in one of three patients when all else fails, the first such drug approved in 40 years by Health Canada, the FDA and the European Union for this purpose. The drug is even more effective used earlier in the disease course. Does the minister really believe that oncologists worldwide, the editorial staff at the New England Journal of Medicine and 50,000 patients treated to date are so gullible as to be swayed by "shrewd marketing campaigns"?
Ontario and its advisors must indeed be much smarter to have discovered something that those of us who treat and research the disease every day have missed. I no longer practise in Ontario but since leaving last year have heard regularly from my former colleagues and patients who are outraged but seemingly unable to overturn this well-intentioned but totally inappropriate decision.
The government should revisit the mistaken position it has adopted. In my opinion, myeloma and lymphoma patients in Ontario should seek any available legal recourse to overturn this state of affairs before more patients die prematurely.
On the other hand, perhaps the intelligent public of Ontario will demand better and the government will overturn this illogical decision with the haste that desperate patients require.
I acknowledge that I have been a consultant and an invited lecturer for the manufacturers of this drug and was actively engaged in clinical trials that proved its worth. Nevertheless, I am swayed only by the irrefutable evidence of clinical benefit in my patients.
Dr. A. Keith Stewart, Professor of Medicine,University of Toronto
Source: The Toronto Star
posted by gwg at 11:18 AM
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