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 a high dose that is killing me when it’s meant to help me
“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 right dosage,” the woman said between coughs.
A Health Ministry spokesman said it was bound by standard operating procedures not to accept bids over the maximum reference price, which its local agent exceeded for lower doses.
The ministry had tried to obtain the drug from other international sources but was unsuccessful.
The active substance in Revlimid, lenalidomide, blocks tumour cells, prevents the growth of blood vessels within tumours and stimulates some specialised immune system cells to attack cancerous cells, according to the European Medicines Agency.
Revlimid comes in doses that include 25mg, 15mg, 10mg and 5mg. But Mater Dei Hospital only stocks the 25mg pill.
“The Department of Health procures the lenalidomide 25mg dose. The department has also approved the lower doses.
However, the local agent did not manage to quote at the approved maximum reference price.
“Since the agent exceeded the maximum reference price, this medicine dose could not be procured,” the spokesman said.
He acknowledged that dose adjustments are recommended to manage different conditions or toxicity related to lenalidomide.
The spokesman added that new procurement cycles have been initiated and “as long as the maximum reference price is not exceeded, the department would be able to secure the stocks”.