Update: Protest goes to London
1:20pm Wednesday 27th August 2008
A group of cancer campaigners from Oxfordshire came face-to-face today with the man who could have a big say in whether they get a so-called wonder drug on the NHS.
A coach load of campaigners from the county met Andrew Dillon, chief executive of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, the organisation that licenses drugs for use on the NHS.
The campaigners hope the cancer-fighting drug Sunitinib will be available on prescription.
Currently, those wanting to take the drug have to purchase it privately.
Mr Dillon accepted a petition but did not make time to speak to them personally.
Cancer patient Clive Stone, 60, of Freeland, said: "He said he would look at all the letter, but we didn't get the time we wanted with him.
"I walked out the meeting in disgust, I was quite emotional."
Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients hired a coach to transport protesters to the headquarters of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in High Holborn.
Led by Mr Stone, more than 20 patients, carers and families put their cases in person to the authority that recommends which drugs are licensed for NHS use.
In essence, it will be their last chance to convince health chiefs of ending a so-called postcode lottery.
Mr Stone, 60, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer last summer, said people across the country had pledged to join the peaceful protest.
He said: "We'll be wearing our T-shirts and carrying out placards - we want the world to know how we feel."
Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients is fighting to overturn draft guidance ruling that four cancer drugs - including Sunitinib - were too expensive for prescription on the NHS. Campaigners have until Friday to comment on the guidance.
Mr Stone said he had been overwhelmed by the level of support he had received from across the country since Nice published its guidance and expected 40 or 50 people to join today's protest.
Like Mr Stone, kidney cancer sufferer Peter Beckett, 62, from Long Hanborough, has been warned Sunitinib is the only effective treatment should nodules in his lungs prove to be secondary cancer.
He said: "I feel irate and bitter to think I may not be able to receive the drug."
Craig Dunn, from Leicestershire, joined the Oxfordshire protesters because he has felt the benefits of Sunitinib.
Diagnosed with kidney cancer 18 months ago, the 47-year-old had a kidney removed and was prescribed Interferon for four months.
But the drug failed to stop the growth of the chest tumour and he appealed to Leicestershire Primary Care Trust to receive Sunitinib.
The PCT agreed to prescribe the drug and within four months a scan revealed no cancer.
He said: "Sunitinib has changed my life - because I still have a life."