Leukaemia medicine Azacitidine has been placed on the government formulary as from this week, Health Minister Chris Fearne said.

The minister said that €3 million from this year’s budget were being voted specifically for cancer medicine.

Azacitidine, he said, was to be used by elderly people who, for various reason, could not receive standard leukaemia treatment.

It could also be given as outpatient medicine reducing the need for patients to be in hospital. It also reduced the need for blood or platelet transfusion.

This is the fourth cancer medicine added to the government formulary this year.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.