7:46am Tuesday 26th August 2008
By Ellie Simmonds
Cancer patients across Oxfordshire last night welcomed an outspoken letter from doctors criticising the rationing of life-extending drugs.
Members of the newly-formed campaign group, Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients, said they were pleased to receive support from so many top clinicians ahead of their first planned protest tomorrow.
Twenty-five professors specialising in cancer treatment criticised the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for deeming drugs - including Sunitinib - too expensive.
And, in a letter published in The Sunday Times, the doctors - including Prof Adrian Harris from Oxford University - called for a "radical change" in how decisions were made.
It said: "We have already seen distraught patients remortgaging their houses, giving up pensions and selling cars simply to buy drugs that are freely available to those using health services in countries of comparable wealth.
"We believe the time has come for a radical change in how the NHS makes rationing decisions for cancer."
Cancer patient Clive Stone, of Freeland, near Witney, said it was the first time so many clinicians had spoken out on the issue.
Mr Stone, 60, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer last summer, said: "I feel great relief the professors agree with what we have been saying. It is the first time we have seen so many clinicians speak as one."
Earlier this month, Mr Stone helped set up Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients to fight Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust's policy on the drug Sunitinib.
Tomorrow, the group will mount its first protest - a visit to the headquarters of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in London, where they hope to deliver letters to the organisation's chief executive.
Mr Stone said he expected dozens of people from across the country to take part in the protest.
He said: "This will only be the first action. We have got nothing to lose. We are just living every day knowing we are dying."
Fellow patient Andrew Crabb, of Crosslands Drive, Abingdon, is paying £3,300 every six weeks for the cancer "wonder drug" Sunitinib, but fears he may have to sell his house to cover the cost. Last night, the 49-year-old said: "The letter is good for all of us. If the Government listens, it may save me selling our house."
So far, 20 patients in the county have been denied Sunitinib by Oxfordshire PCT.
Only one person, Stephen Dallison, 33, from Oxford, has successfully appealed against its refusal.
Nice chief executive Andrew Dillon said: "If one group of patients is provided with cost ineffective care, other groups - lacking powerful lobbyists - will be denied cost effective care for miserable conditions like schizophrenia, Crohn's disease or cystic fibrosis. We have not yet made a final decision on the use of drugs to treat renal cancer."
Campaigners have until Friday to comment on Nice's draft guidance rejecting four cancer drugs, including Sunitinib.
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