Second 'postcode lottery' victim dies (From Oxford Mail)

Second 'postcode lottery' victim dies

7:08am Wednesday 4th June 2008 in

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A second 'postcode lottery' victim who was refused a life-extending cancer drug has died.

Jim Wheeler, 57, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in December and had an operation to remove a kidney in January but it spread to other parts of his body. He died on Friday, his widow Jenny said last night.

Mr Wheeler had sought the life-extending drug Sunitinib when he was told he was terminally ill. But the drug costs £2,500 a month and he was told by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust that the funding had been declined.

Only 27 out of 152 PCTs fund the drug for patients, and yesterday Mrs Wheeler said she would continue to camapign for it to be available across the NHS.

Mrs Wheeler, 54, said: "We feel angry that Jim was denied the chance to have this life-extending drug."

The death of Mr Wheeler, who ran TW Motorcycles in Kidlington for 30 years, follows the death in March of Martyn Sumner, 52, from Cumnor, who was also denied Sunitinib after contracting renal cancer.

Fellow sufferer Stephen Dallison, 33, of Iffley Road in Oxford, won treatment after appeal.

A statement from Oxfordshire PCT said: "Our sympathy is with Mr Wheeler's family at this time.

"To protect patient confidentiality, the PCT is unable to comment on the circumstances of any patient's case without explicit permission."