{"id":51318,"date":"2025-09-29T20:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/51318\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T20:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:32:08","slug":"public-cancer-patients-denied-powerful-new-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/51318\/","title":{"rendered":"Public cancer patients ‘denied powerful new drugs’"},"content":{"rendered":"

An \u201cincreasingly\u201d large number of public cancer patients are being denied effective new drugs that are routinely available to those being cared for in private hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Michael McCarthy, a consultant oncologist at University College Galway, said some of the drugs are able to keep people alive and healthy for far longer than what is currently available for public healthcare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The specialist, along with a number of colleagues, has written to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill proposing a new Co-Funded Early Access Programme, to ensure public patients can avail of the newest treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIt increasingly arises in every cancer type,\u201d Dr McCarthy explained on The Pat Kenny Show<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I can see, the inequity is on track to get much worse before it gets better – if something is done about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the core of my job, on a day to day basis, I see people who have cancer now and it\u2019s my responsibility to give them advice as to which treatments are likely to work best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely not the best oncologist in the country but I\u2019ve spent 20 years training to make these types of decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly, because the pace of change in terms of research is accelerating, the options that I would recommend are not open to me and my colleagues across the country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Doctors A doctor and a patient. Picture by: Alamy.com.<\/p>\n

Dr McCarthy continued that while he does not believe that every drug approved by the European Medicines Agency, a number can make a significant difference to a patient\u2019s quality of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some cases, the benefit is marginal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, in some cases, the benefit is large, substantial and obvious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor these drugs that the EMA have approved, they are currently available to patients treated in private hospitals and not to patients treated in public hospitals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\u2018It\u2019s A man talks with a doctor in his office. Picture by: Bill Cheyrou \/ Alamy Stock Photo.com.<\/p>\n

Even if a public patient is willing to pay for the medication themselves, Dr McCarthy said the HSE has made it \u201cvery clear\u201d that they cannot do this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can self-pay in private hospitals,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the catch there is that if somebody is self-paying without insurance, it\u2019s not just the cost of the drug that has to be covered, it\u2019s the cost of the full hospital care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich is a lot of money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" A doctor and a patient. Picture by: Aaron Amat \/ Alamy.com.<\/p>\n

Dr McCarthy added that this means disparities in outcomes between public and private patients are \u201ccoming thick and fast\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a year ago, from memory, there were about six treatment indications that were available privately and not publicly,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow in my area of practice, that\u2019s up to about 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo give you an example, there\u2019s an immunotherapy called Dostarlimab that is available for the treatment of a subtype of endometrial cancers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn clinical research, in two years about 60% of people who get the treatment are still alive and well without any progress of their cancer – compared to 15% of people who didn\u2019t get the immunotherapy and got chemotherapy instead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Programme for Government, Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael describe themselves as \u201ccommitted to ensuring that patients have access to new innovative new medicines and treatments as quickly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Main image: A cancer patient being prepared for chemotherapy. Picture by: JPagetRMphotos \/ Alamy.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An \u201cincreasingly\u201d large number of public cancer patients are being denied effective new drugs that are routinely available…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-51318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}