LUNG cancer patients in Scotland are the first in the UK to benefit from a new targeted treatment which could double life expectancy.

However, a new treatment for breast cancer which has also been shown to improve survival rates was turned down for Scots patients.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium approved Xalkori (crizotinib) for advanced forms of lung cancer where chemotherapy has stopped working.

Cancer doctors say the drug has the potential to double life expectancy from around a year to 22 months in patients with a particular type of lung cancer that affects around 5%.

The news was welcomed by cancer specialists in Greater Glasgow, where rates of lung cancer are almost a third higher than the Scottish average.

Dr Nichola Steele, of The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, said: "Although it has not been proved in trials most doctors would agree that this drug has the potential to double life expectancy from just under a year to just under two years. It also improves quality of life for patients."

However, a drug which has been shown to improve breast cancer survival rates, Perjeta - which is also known as pertuzumab - was turned down by the SMC "because the medicine was not considered to offer value for money".

Studies have shown patients with the HER2 positive breast cancer taking the drug lived on average just over six months longer without their disease getting worse than those treated with Herceptin or chemotherapy alone.

About 4100 women in Scotland are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, with up to a quarter of them having the HER2 positive form of the disease.

James Jopling, Breakthrough Breast Cancer's director for Scotland, said the decision was "hugely disappointing" as the treatment was "shown to be very effective at giving women with secondary breast cancer the benefit of more quality time with their families as they approach the end of their lives".

He added: "Women with secondary breast cancer already have severely limited treatment options.

"This decision should serve as a reminder to the Scottish Government - who this week will be announcing their recommendations to improve access to treatments - that they must take account of the wider value of medicines, particularly those which are innovative and those intended for people approaching the end of life."

Jayson Dallas, general manager of drug manufacturer Roche Products, said: "Perjeta represents a major advance in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, so the decision to deny access to this treatment is an injustice for patients in Scotland.

"Access to effective cancer medicines in Scotland is now a pressing issue - and one that the Scottish Government and the SMC must urgently address.

caroline.wilson@eveningtimes.co.uk