Bournemouth Echo (KC) 17-Aug-08
From Kidney Cancer Resource
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COUPLE IN CANCER DRUG BATTLE
By Joanna Codd
A BOURNEMOUTH couple whose nephew is suffering from advanced kidney cancer are campaigning against plans to deny NHS funding for a drug that is keeping him alive.
Colin and Jacqueline Jones, of Iford, have written to Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood and the Department of Health over the draft decision by NICE.
Their nephew Neil Haines, 44, who lives in the London area, had a kidney and a rib removed in January, but surgeons found his cancer had spread to his lung. advertisement
The graphic artist recently started treatment with a drug called Sunitinib, also known as Sutent, which works by starving tumours of nutrients. Trials have shown that the almost a third of people treated with the drug show some response, and that it extends life for an average of 11 months.
Although licensed for use on patients with advanced kidney cancer in Europe more than 18 months ago, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued draft guidance ruling that Sutent and three other drugs were not cost-effective.
Mr Jones said Neil had been on the drug for a month and his cancer had shrunk. "His mother and father live in Wales and this is devastating for them. They can't stop crying," he said.
"If Neil doesn't have this drug he will die. He's been a clean-living boy all his life. The government gives so much money to alcoholics and drug addicts. They seem to get more financial support than people who have never gone on the sick or abused their bodies. Surely they can fund this drug?"
Mr Jones asked people to support the campaign by writing to Cancer Research and NICE, which will be making a final decision in January.
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