Overview
- For the first time in England, men with high-risk prostate cancer that has not spread will be able to receive abiraterone on the NHS within weeks.
- Around 2,000 men diagnosed in the past three months could start treatment if clinically appropriate, with roughly 7,000 newly eligible each year.
- Stampede trial data indicate two years of abiraterone halves the risk of recurrence and reduces the risk of death by about 40%, with six-year survival at 86% versus 77% on standard care.
- NHS England cites lower-cost generic supply and wider savings from biosimilars as enabling the rollout, building on earlier commissioning for advanced disease.
- Prostate Cancer UK estimates 720 lives could be saved in the first year and about 3,000 over five years, after years of campaigning that highlighted gaps that led some patients to pay privately.