New hope for mum in cancer drug bid

Jun 14 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A MUM denied a cancer drug on the NHS has been given hope after new health secretary Alan Burnham pledged to investigate.

Mary Brewis, 53, has been told she cannot have the drug Erbitux through the health service to treat her advanced bowel cancer, which has spread to her lungs since she was first diagnosed six years ago.

In a bid to keep Mary alive, she and her husband John have taken out a loan to buy Erbitux themselves – a drug taken intravenously that’s widely available across Europe – at a cost of £1100 for each weekly shot.

The NHS trust for the North of Tyne has refused to pay up, claiming there has been no evidence of “clinical benefit”, even though a report submitted by Mary’s specialist said her health has vastly improved and the tumours have shrunk.

Now Mary’s local MP Ronnie Campbell has stepped in to help, by raising the issue in the House of Commons through an Early Day Motion which was backed by 20 other MPs.

Mr Campbell, MP for Blyth Valley, believes Mary is a victim of a scandalous postcode lottery . . . and he had enlisted the help of newly-appointed Health Secretary Alan Burnham to see the trust’s decision reversed.

He said: “The Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are the ones who have the money to pay for these things, so he will ask them why they are not funding it, and why she has been refused when the consultant said she is healthier and that the tumours have shrunk?