Patients get ‘too strong’ cancer drug due to cost

Patients battling a form of bone marrow cancer are being given a medicine that is too strong because prices for lower doses exceed the Government’s payment limit, Times of Malta has learnt. As a consequence, patients treated with Revlimid are left weakened by the aggressive drug and are experiencing side effects such as breathlessness, severe coughs and weakened immune systems. “I’m being given 25mg but my consultant told me I need 15mg. It’s very strong and makes me very weak,” a woman undergoing treatment told Times of Malta. “I’d rather be given the right dosage since at the moment I’m being given a high dose that is killing me when it’s meant to help me,” she said. The woman, who is over 60, is one of eight patients who have multiple myeloma – a cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow – and who are being treated with Revlimid. She has been battling cancer for over five years and has tried different forms of treatment, including chemotherapy, which enabled her to establish that Revlimid is way too strong for her frail body. “Before I was, more or less, leading a normal life. But now I can no longer do this. I’m too weak to leave the house. All I wish is to be given the...