COLNE Valley MP Jason McCartney has welcomed an announcement by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence that the breakthrough prostate cancer drug – abiraterone - will now be made available on the NHS.

The drug can extend the lives and improve the quality of life of men with advanced prostate cancer once all other treatment options have stopped working.

Mr McCartney supported the campaign to ensure this vital treatment is made available to men who needed it and has called on NHS Kirklees to ensure that the guidance is implemented well within the three month deadline.

He said: “I very much welcome this important decision which can offer men with advanced prostate cancer precious extra quality time with loved ones at a stage when the only other treatment options are palliative. This is an issue that many constituents felt strongly about, and I am proud to have been part of this campaign to deliver this drug on the NHS for men with incurable prostate cancer”.