Cancer drug pledge gets cautious welcome

6:22am Tuesday 1st July 2008

Comments (3)   Have your say »

By The Page Turner »

Cancer patients denied a life-extending drug on the NHS because of a postcode lottery in Oxfordshire have welcomed the Government's pledge to solve the problem.

To date 15 patients in the county have been refused the drug by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) while other PCTs prescribe the treatment.

The Oxford Mail has reported on the cases of a number of cancer patients who have been denied potentially life-extending drugs because of where they live.

At the weekend, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said efforts would be made to speed up the approval of new drugs by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice).

He said: "What we have heard from patients is that one of the major concerns is the perceived postcode lottery in access to drugs.

"There are too many variations around who gets access to prescribed drugs and that these variations are a lottery depending on where you live."

Patients will have their legal rights to Nice-recommended drugs laid out in a new NHS constitution, to reduce the time to approve a drug from two years to six months.

Jenny Wheeler, from Kidlington, whose husband Jim, 57, died from kidney cancer after being denied the £2,500-a-month drug Sunitinib, has launched a campaign to end the postcode lottery.

The 54-year-old mother-of-two said: "It seems like the Government is starting to listen to people about the postcode lottery issue but we will keep on campaigning until everyone has the right to get these drugs.

"Before Jim died he said he wanted me to keep campaigning on this issue, so that is what I am going to do."

She said campaigners fighting for the drug would be meeting on Monday july 7and would discuss how to take the matter forward.

Stephen Dallison, 33, of Iffley Road, Oxford, is the only patient in the county to get Sunitinib on the NHS after appealing against the PCT's decision.

He said: "The Government knows there is a problem and wants to address it, but it remains to be seen if politicians carry out their promises, so we need to keep the pressure on."

Father-of-three Andrew Crabb, 49, of Crosslands Drive, Abingdon, cashed in his pension to pay for Sunitinib, which costs £3,300 every six weeks. He is suffering renal cancer and was denied the drug by the PCT.

He said: "I can not afford to wait until this is sorted out and there are people out there who are worse off than me. At least I am responding to the treatment."

Oxfordshire PCT spokesman Clare Clayton said: "We expect the draft constitution to set out more clearly rights for patients.

"Should Nice recommend the NHS use of Sunitinib for renal cancer patients, the PCT will follow its due process in implementing this."