Approval for taxotere treatment in Scotland

Scottish doctors have been given permission to prescribe a cancer treatment which could help to prolong the lives of some patients.

The drug, taxotere, has been recommended for the treatment of head, neck, breast and lung cancers by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).

It is based on an extract from the European yew tree and has been found to provide a 30 per cent lower mortality rate than standard treatments.

Dr Elizabeth Junor, a consultant clinical oncologist at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, said that the drug would hopefully result in many more lives being saved.

"This SMC recommendation will mean that more patients can now get this new treatment combination, which is another significant step forward for us in the management of head and neck cancer," she said.

Around 760 people are diagnosed with head and neck cancer every year in the UK.

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