Skin cancer patients may miss out on costly new drug

Patients suffering from skin cancer could be set to miss out on a groundbreaking blockbuster drug.

It follows independent medicine cost watchdog, the National Pharmaeconomics Centre (NCPE), recommending the HSE not make Opdivo available through the public system.

This is at odds with a recent decision by the NCPE’s UK counterpart, which recommended that the drug, estimated to cost £5,700 (€7,217) per patient per month in the UK, be made available through the NHS system.