Cancer agency halts Thalidomide funding in B.C.

VANCOUVER (CP) -- The B.C. Cancer Agency will stop funding the drug thalidomide for new bone cancer patients.

The agency cites the notorious drug's $2-million annual cost as "no longer tenable."

Of the 165 B.C. patients who have been prescribed the drug in the past year for multiple myeloma, those who are still on it will be grandfathered into the new policy effective this month.

They will continue getting the drug for free through the agency, but newly diagnosed patients will have to pay the $1,000 to $4,000 cost per month themselves if they need it.

An estimated 220 patients this year will need the drug.

New patients may also qualify for treatment with a new drug funded by the agency.

The agency, which has been the only cancer centre in Canada paying for thalidomide, has seen its monthly costs jump nearly 1,000% -- from $100 a bottle to nearly $1,000 -- in the past five years.