NHS expands access to prostate cancer drug in England to save thousands of lives

An MRI scan of the pelvis showing prostate cancer. About 55,300 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK each year. Photograph: Phanie/Sipa Press/Alamy

The NHS has expanded access to a prostate cancer drug across England in a move expected to save thousands of lives.

Abiraterone, which starves cancer cells of the hormones they need to grow, will be offered to men who are newly diagnosed and whose disease has not spread beyond the prostate.