Cancer patients get lower drug dose

Cancer patients administered harder chemotherapy drugs than needed will start getting the proper dose after Times of Malta prompted the Government into action. “The Government will be providing the lower doses following positive negotiations with the Maltese agent,” a spokesman for the Health Ministry said. Times of Malta revealed last month that patients with multiple myeloma – a cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow – were being given a dose of the medicine Revlimid that is too strong for their condition. This was happening because the prices for lower doses quoted by the local agent exceeded the Government’s payment limit.  As a consequence, patients treated with Revlimid experienced side effects such as breathlessness, severe coughs and weakened immune systems unnecessarily.  A woman receiving the treatment told Times of Malta she was glad to hear that lower doses would be administered and was waiting for the drug to arrive. “Hopefully, the side effects will not be as bad. I want to be able to be treated for my cancer without feeling weaker to the extent that I can’t function,” said the woman, who is over 60. One of eight multiple myeloma sufferers being treated with...