Edinburgh and Lothian Prostate Cancer Support Group (ELPCSG) was recently informed by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) that they have received a request from the drug company Astellas Pharma regarding their drug Enzalutamide (Xtandi). Recent research on the PROSPER Trial has shown that Enzalutamide (Xtandi) may be able to delay the onset of cancer spread in men who have high risk prostate cancer – high risk is shown by a doubling of the PSA level in under 10 months. This is a very significant development in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer and gives men hope for a longer and better quality of  life. The SMC now need to decide if they can approve Enzalutamide (Xtandi) for this treatment by the NHS in Scotland.

The ELPCSG committee decided to make a submission to the SMC regarding Enzalutamide and we are very grateful indeed to those members who contacted us about their experiences of the drug, and many thanks to Rob Lester for coordinating our submission. A copy of the submission can be downloaded by clicking here.