Page 12 - Inspire_SpringSummer_DigitalEdition

Targeted Therapies
Targeted Therapies –
Fresh Hope for Patients
The decision by the Scottish Medicines
Consortium (SMC) in February to accept a new
targeted therapy drug, osimertinib, for use by
NHS patients north of the border was welcome
news.
Osimertinib has been available for suitable NHS lung
cancer patients in England and Wales since October last
year.
This means that hundreds of patients, who have a
genetic mutation known as EGFR T790M-positive, and
for whom other drugs have failed, are now eligible for
this new treatment.
Osimertinib represents a breakthrough as it targets
non-small-cell lung cancer tumours among people who
have this specific genetic mutation, which is a ‘marker’
showing that they have stopped responding to previous
treatments.
While osimertinib does not offer curative treatment, it
can stop cancer from spreading, or, in some cases, even
shrink tumours.As it’s an oral treatment, taken as a
tablet every day, it also allows people to carry on with
their daily lives.
Tom Simpson has been told that he may be a suitable
candidate for osimertinib as his disease progresses.
A director of Specsavers Opticians, he lives with his wife
and two children in Stonehaven,Aberdeenshire.
“ Having a life-limiting disease,
you tend to spend as much time as you
can with your children and family –
but you still need to pay the bills,
”so you still need to go to work.
Diagnosed with stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer
(NSCLC) in August 2014,Tom currently receives another
form of biological or targeted therapy, which has worked
so well that he has even been able to return to work.
“The type of medication I’m on at present doesn’t affect
my energy levels in the way that chemotherapy can for
some people.
12 Inspire 2017
“Having a life-limiting disease, you tend to spend as much
time as you can with your children and family – but you
still need to pay the bills, so you still need to go to work.
“I’ve been very lucky in that I have supportive colleagues
and this has allowed me to change my working pattern,
which allows me to contribute to the business. I tend to
work quite hard on those days I’m in, and do as much as
I did before!
Tom has been advised by his medical team that
eventually his present drug will no longer be effective at
holding back the advance of his lung cancer.
For patients like him who are EGFR positive and who
develop the T790 mutations, prior to the availability of
osimertinib, the next step after conventional treatments
falter would be palliative care.
“When the present drug is no longer effective, I would
have a life expectancy of around eight months.Assuming
I have this particular mutation, I will be eligible for
osimertinib, and that gives me hope. Prior to this
decision by the SMC, I didn’t have that hope.
When Tom says that the availability of osimertinib gives
him hope, you know he means it. He has good advice for
others who may find themselves in the same situation.
“Patients really need to get involved in making decisions
about their own treatment.To do that, they need the
kind of information and support offered by Roy Castle
Lung Cancer Foundation.When you know your options,
you can make better decisions. I did that, and I now have
another treatment available to me”.