Cancer Victim Mounts Legal Bid for Drug
01/03/2008
A West Sussex man with only two months to live has mounted a legal challenge to gain access to a drug that could possibly extend his life expectancy by up to three years.
Colin Ross, 55, of Horsham, West Sussex was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the blood cells, in May 2004 and has been told by doctors that unless he is given the drug Revlimid he will not survive beyond the autumn.
In a cruel twist of fate, Mr Ross, who has two children and four grandchildren, has a partner who he cares for who has been diagnosed with breast cancer and she is currently undergoing intensive radiotherapy.
Mr Ross has already undergone a range of cancer treatments in the past and did respond well to the two other drugs currently being prescribed on the NHS for myeloma patients; Thalidomide and Velcade.
However, he was forced to stop taking these drugs because they caused him painful side effects. His team of treating expert clinicians at the Royal Marsden Hospital then made an urgent application to West Sussex Primary Care Trust for funding of the drug Revlimid as it is the only viable option available to extend his life.
The request was to fund the treatment for 3-4 months initially and evidence was presented to the PCT by the Royal Marsden Hospital to show that the drug could be effective and extend Mr Ross’s life.
However, while Revlimid is readily available to patients across Europe and in the USA, it has not yet been granted approval by NICE (National Institute of Clinical excellence) and so is currently only being provided by some PCTs on the NHS in exceptional circumstances.
After waiting for a decision for over nine weeks, Mr Ross was finally told in May that his application was being turned down by his PCT as the drug was too expensive and his circumstances were not ‘exceptional’ enough to qualify him for funding.
Mr Ross has now instructed law firm Irwin Mitchell to help him mount a legal challenge to West Sussex NHS Primary Care Trust’s decision not to fund the drug for his use.
Yogi Amin, a Partner in Irwin Mitchell’s Public Law team, said: "Mr Ross’s NHS doctor, his treating expert consultant, has prescribed Revlimid as an exceptional case. It presents Mr Ross with his only chance of living beyond the next two months but the West Sussex PCT managers are denying the funds to pay for this drug treatment because they do not consider it cost effective.
"Mr Ross is devastated that the NHS will not fund the only treatment that is available to him. He is frustrated at having had to battle for over 9 weeks to get a decision from the PCT managers and he is now prepared to take the case to the High Court to fight for his right to live."