Fuck that
Charity begins at home, why should we let the mud pie eaters off the debt when the government are letting 40,000 Britons die through lack of investment in drugs and we have pensioners freezing to death because they can't pay heating bills
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/154368...osting-too-muchTENS of thousands of lives are being put at risk because of a controversial decision to save money by refusing patients a new heart disease pill costing just £2 a day, medical experts claimed last night.
Doctors say that in the first year alone the drug – called Dronedarone – could help more than 40,000 heart victims for whom no other treatments have worked so far.
Dozens of doctors have written to the watchdog NICE, which decides which drugs can be prescribed on the NHS, to protest at its decision to withhold the potentially life-saving drug on cost grounds. Conservative MP John Maples has tabled a Parliamentary motion raising concern at the decision and he has the support of politicians from all parties.
One signatory, Mark Hunter, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle, said last night: “It won’t be the first time that NICE has got guidelines wrong in the opinion of the British public.
“At the end of the day, Dronedarone represents a huge step forward for heart patients. It’s a breakthrough drug and if it can benefit all these people, then it’s got to be worthy of a reassessment by NICE.” The MPs are calling on NICE – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence – to permit patients, carers and health professionals to give evidence at its second appraisal meeting over the drug next month.
Experts say use of the drug would help tens of thousands of people who suffer from a condition called atrial fibrillation. Caused by an abnormal heartbeat, it puts patients at serious risk of suffering strokes and heart attacks.
Existing drugs have proved ineffective for many of the million-plus sufferers in the UK and can also have horrendous side effects, including damage to the lungs, liver and kidneys.
Dronedarone is the first new drug for the condition introduced to the market in more than 25 years and is widely available in Europe and the US. But in a provisional decision made before Christmas, NICE said the drug had not been shown to be cost effective.
Some of the current drugs in use cost just a couple of pounds per month to prescribe, compared to Dronedarone which costs around £2 a day – or £67 a month.
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