'Wonder drug kept me alive'

9:38am Saturday 7th April 2007

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In November last year, cancer patient Malcolm Cole thought he had just a few days left to live.

The 68-year-old had been denied a potentially life-extending drug by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) and was facing a harsh reality.

However, at the 11th hour his doctor informed him of a trial for the drug - called Velcade at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

Mr Cole immediately embarked on the treatment and is now recuperating at his home in Fulbrook, near Burford.

The results have been remarkable. The drug reduced the level of deadly myeloma proteins in his blood - which reduce the body's immunity - by 86 per cent and should extend his life by several years.

Mr Cole said: "I was lucky that I was able to get on to a trial. Every month there are two or three Multiple Myeloma patients who relapse in Oxfordshire and who will die within months without access to the expensive developmental drug Velcade."

Oxfordshire PCT based its decision not to prescribe the drug on the basis of a National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) ruling that at a cost of £33,000 for eight courses it was not cost effective.

But Mr Cole felt the effect after three doses and he believes the PCT should consider prescribing fewer treatments - at a more economical £9,000.

And an appeal panel, The Myeloma Forum comprised of 20 doctors, has recently ruled that NICE should "reconsider" its conclusions.

Mr Cole said: "I implore them to find some way to allow specialists access to Velcade, even if is only an agreed sum per month for experimental treatment.

"It's a wonder drug. I'm alive and feeling better every day as the side effects diminish."

PCT spokesman Alison Brumfitt said: "The PCT currently operates a policy that Bortezomib (Velcade) for relapsed and refractory myeloma is a low priority due to limited evidence of clinical effectiveness, lack of consensus of cost effectiveness and the significant financial difficulties across the NHS in the Thames Valley.

"The PCT does, however, have an individual patient request process, which responds to any requests for low priority treatment.

"We are aware there has been an appeal against NICE's (NICE) appraisal of Bortezomib, which led to a decision not to recommend the drug. Should NICE guidance change the PCT would take any new guidance into consideration."