Announcement of prostate cancer pills to be available in Britain markets within weeks, have brought a ray of hope for thousands of men dying of the cancer every year. The pill, Zytiga would increase the life of a patient by four months, and it is hoped that around 10,000 patients in a year would be benefitted. Around 250,000 men in the UK are living with prostate cancer, with 37,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

The pill invented by British scientists, would be given to those patients who have been suffering from severe prostate cancer, and that could not be treated with chemotherapy and other drugs. Working of this drug is to cut off the supply of hormone named as testosterone, which did not allow cancer to grow.

Decision of Europe Commission on the recommendation of European Committee, to use medicinal plants for human use, would take three months. Even if the drug, also named as abiraterone acetate gets approved, then also it won’t find its place in the NHS immediately.

The government watchdog NICE has now taken the responsibility to review its pros and cons, and after that only, the drug would be prescribed on the Health Service, which could take many years.

But till then, patients have to pay for it privately or they could also apply for funding from the Cancer Drugs Fund.