The daily pill was found in clinical trials to extend the life of advanced prostate cancer sufferers by more than four months, far longer than previous treatments. Although it was developed by British scientists, it became available elsewhere in the world first and it is believed that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted over the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in 1988, has been taking it. He was released from jail in Scotland two years ago on compassionate grounds after doctors said he was terminally ill and only had three months to live, but remains alive in Libya although his family claim he is now close to death after looters stole his medicine. The drug, called abiraterone acetate and marketed as Zytiga by the pharmaceutical firm Janssen, has now been approved by the European Medicines Agency and goes on sale in Britain on Wednesday. However the NHS’s rationing body in England and Wales, Nice, is not expected to rule until next year on whether or not the drug – which costs almost £3,000 a month per patient – should be made widely available.
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