UK sets drug guidelines to help terminally ill

Park visitors walks near a pink tent in Hyde Park in London, in this file photo from May 18, 2006. The world's largest travelling tent was erected for a breast cancer marathon.

LONDON (Reuters) - The healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog announced new rules for the approval of drugs on Friday that could give people with terminal illnesses longer to live.

A cancer support group said 10,000 patients a year could benefit from the rule change.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said the new guidelines would ensure that its independent advisory bodies fully considered all the benefits when making recommendations on treatments that extend the life of patients who don't have long to live.

NICE decides which treatments are made available under the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).

The new rules will give terminally ill patients access to treatments that, although shown to extend patients' lives, would normally be considered by NICE to be too expensive.

Treatments that may be considered under the new rules are intended for patients with less than two years to live and must be licensed for treating small numbers of patients.

There would have to be evidence that the treatment can extend a patient's life by at least three months compared to the current NHS treatment, NICE said.

Another condition is that there is no alternative treatment with comparable benefits available on the NHS.

NICE's appraisal committees will be asked to consider whether the extra cost of the treatment is justified, given the special benefit of life-extending treatments for patients who are only expected to live for a short time.

The new rules, issued following a public consultation, will come into effect in time for the January meetings of NICE's appraisal committees.

Rachel Rowson, policy manager at Macmillan Cancer Support, which helps people affected by cancer, welcomed the new rules.

"We hope this will now mean that people with rarer cancers and those at the end-of-life stage get access to the drugs they need on the NHS. Macmillan estimates that 10,000 patients a year will benefit from this," she said in a statement.

The new rules follow a decision by authorities in November to allow private top-up payments for cancer and other costly drugs within the state health service.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Richard Chang)