In France, according to figures from the National Cancer Institute (INCa), 80,000 people suffering from cancer are treated with 5-FU chemotherapy. This treatment is, in particular, recommended in cases of breast cancer, digestive cancer or ENT cancer.
However, 5-FU (for 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine) is a molecule which can prove to be toxic in certain patients who suffer from a total or partial deficiency of the DPD enzyme. There are two tests that make it possible to detect this deficit, which then makes it possible to adapt the doses of 5-FU to limit its toxicity. Problem: not all hospitals systematically perform this screening.
This Thursday, December 3, 2019, the families of 3 patients who died after having undergone toxic 5-FU chemotherapy announced that they wanted to file a complaint against X with the Paris tribunal de grande instance. “The cure who was supposed to treat them sent them to the cemetery” reacted Me Vincent Julé-Parade, the lawyer and spokesperson for the plaintiffs.
Toxic, even fatal chemotherapy
“The idea is not to question 5-FU, which has proven itself, but to question: why, when we have known for several years that there was this contraindication in case of deficit [de l’enzyme DPD] and that there are tests that exist, no health authority or public official has taken the step of recommending this test before February 2018? ” he added.
Indeed, on February 8, 2018, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) had underlined the interest of systematic screening, considering however that there was “no consensus […] on the modalities ”of this test. For their part, INCa and the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended the systematic implementation of a screening method to prevent “certain severe toxicities” from chemotherapy, on December 18, 2018. To be continued!
Read also :
Cancer: patients’ wigs reimbursed
Pancreatic cancer: a new chemo that increases survival
Cryotherapy: effective against the side effects of chemotherapy?
