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18-Jul-2007 - Court overturns PCT on Avastin
Cancer sufferer wins drugs ruling
After being treated with Avastin Mrs Otley's condition improved A bowel cancer sufferer has won a High Court ruling forcing a health authority to pay for her drug treatment. Mr Justice Mitting said the decision by Barking and Dagenham Primary Care Trust not to pay for Avastin for Victoria Otley was "flawed and irrational".
Lawyers for Miss Otley, 57, argued the drug had been partially effective when she spent £15,000 on private treatment.
The trust, which said the drug was not cost-effective and efficacy was poor, must now pay for five treatments.
Important chances
The judge said the NHS panel considering the case had only concentrated on Miss Otley's short-term prospects.
He said the panel had failed adequately to take into account her "slim but important" chances of surviving more than a few months if she received the drug.
Ian Beaumont, of Bowel Cancer UK, said he was "delighted" with the judgement.
He said: "This is the first bowel cancer case to come for judicial review.
"We await with interest what this judgment means and hope common sense will prevail from the trust."
Miss Otley, a mother of two and grandmother of three, from Dagenham, east London, had been told that without treatment her life expectancy was three to six months.
Money ran out
She was diagnosed with cancer in November 2005 - two and a half years after she first consulted doctors about her symptoms.
Her father had died from the same disease.
Miss Otley raised £15,000 to fund supplies of Avastin and other drugs and her condition improved.
But when her money ran out the trust refused to fund her treatment, which costs about £1,200 per cycle.
The trust had argued that the allocation of resources was an important factor because although only £5,000 may be required in Miss Otley's case, many other patients might claim the right to the same treatment.
After Wednesday's ruling it was decided that the trust will pay for five cycles of the drug and then review her condition.
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Comments
This may well set a very strong prescedent for those who are seeking Sutent & Nexavar particularly as it gives a number of points that may well help both in their application to their regional devolved medical provider or in appeal against a morally dubious rejection by a PCT. User:Greg L-W. 18-Jul-2007
11-Jul-2007 - Friends fund Sutent for Anthony Wilson
Friends fund Wilson's cancer drug
Anthony Wilson was an influential figure in the "Madchester" scene.
Friends of Manchester broadcaster Anthony Wilson are helping pay for his £3,500-a-month Kidney Cancer treatment after the NHS refused to fund it. Wilson, 56, famous for setting up the Hacienda nightclub and Factory Records, had a [[Kidney] removed in January.
Doctors recommended he take the drug ]]Sutent, after Chemotherapy failed to beat the disease.
Members of the Happy Mondays and other acts he has supported over the years have started a fund to help pay for it.
He says his condition has improved and he believes the drug has stopped the cancer in its tracks.
He was turned down by the NHS, while patients being treated alongside him at The Christie Hospital, Manchester and living just a few miles away in Cheshire are receiving funding for the therapy.
Sutent has doubled the life expectancy of some patients
He said: "This is my only real option. It is not a cure but can hold the cancer back, so I will probably be on it until I die.
"When they said I would have to pay £3,500 for the drugs each month, I thought where am I going to find the money? I'm the one person in this industry who famously has never made any money.
"I used to say some people make money and some make history - which is very funny until you find you can't afford to keep yourself alive.
"I've never paid for private healthcare because I'm a socialist. Now I find you can get tummy tucks and cosmetic surgery on the NHS but not the drugs I need to stay alive. It is a scandal."
Nathan McGough, former manager of the Happy Mondays who has known Wilson for 30 years, teamed up with Elliot Rashman, the Mondays' present manager, to set up a fund after they heard of his plight.
There is now enough money in the pot to pay for five months of treatment.
Wilson currently presents a programme on BBC Radio Manchester.
He has also presented a music show on Xfm Manchester and another on local television station Channel M.
Sutent has doubled the life expectancy of some patients in trials.
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2007.03.09 - Denial of Sutent in Lincolnshire
Cancer patient's drug plea agony
The drug helps with the symptoms of cancer:
The mother of a young cancer patient says the NHS has "left him to die" by refusing to fund his cancer drug. Sandy Adams said the NHS had refused to pay for Sutent, a drug which improves the symptoms of renal cancer.
The family from Skegness is paying £3,500 a month for treatment for 24-year-old Nick Adams.
Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust said it considered any requests to fund the drug on an individual basis, but patients could lodge an appeal.
It said the drug was a new one that was not routinely prescribed by the PCT - each case was considered by its Exceptional Case Committee.
Health managers said they had not yet prescribed Sutent to any patients in the county since it was licensed last June.
Mr Adams said he had one kidney removed, but at the end of last year he was diagnosed with cancer and told he had six weeks to live.
He said: "There are many people who have been offered treatment and drugs that cost a substantial amount of money but I have been offered nothing from the PCT at all."
His mother Sandy added: "We have re-mortgaged the house but even that is only a drop in the ocean compared to what we need in the year.
"But we can't get the one drug that we need."
She said the family had raised money by "taking around a bucket" in Skegness and depended on local donations.
"It is a constant battle - do you live or do you starve - or do you sell everything you've got? What price do you put on your son's life?"
She said the PCT should come to see her son and tell him why they would not allow him to have the drug that could keep him alive.
The drug has helped improve his quality of life, she said, adding he would probably only last six weeks.
Pat Hanlon from Kidney Cancer UK said: "It is spectacularly unfair that patients do not get the funding they require for new drugs."
He said the drug would slow down the progress of the disease and allowed patients to take advantage of other treatments like immuno-therapy.
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