Thanks to Tackle’s continued effective campaigning, NHS Scotland will now provide Cabazitaxel, a life-extending drug for advanced prostate cancer patients who need it. The drug is predicted to help almost 60 men, it is given when the cancer can’t be controlled by hormones and is taken after treatment with Docetaxel. Tackle’s campaigning has helped improve lives by getting Cabazitaxel back on the Cancer Drugs Fund and for use on NHS in England, as well as six more major approval advances. 

Roger Wotton, Chairman of Tackle commented: “This is positive news for men in Scotland who now have the same access as other men in the UK to a life-prolonging treatment that increases their chance to live longer. Any extension of time a man with prostate cancer is able to get back to be with family and friends is highly important. The availability of Cabazitaxel (Jevtana) means men in Scotland now have an alternative effective treatment option. Likewise, physicians now have another effective medicine in their arsenal to treat patients.”    

Hugh Gunn, trustee and lead campaigner for Tackle, thanks his own Cabazitaxel treatment for still being alive and well today: “This approval is particularly poignant as Tackle led the campaign and I myself have greatly benefited from accessing Cabazitaxel in England, otherwise I feel I would be very near the end of my life.”