New kidney cancer drug hope for Karen Gault

Dec 5 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

A DECISION to lift a ban on kidney cancer drugs has offered a glimmer of hope to a North mother who has spent thousands of pounds to treat her cancer.

Karen Gault, 44, of Jesmond, Newcastle, is fighting terminal bowel cancer and had to pay for all her medical care privately after opting to take Avastin.

The drug, costing £1,200 a fortnight, prolongs her life and gives her precious time with her three-year-old daughter Grace.

Karen, with husband Paul, 49, had to raise £36,000 after she was twice refused exceptional status to gain access to the drug on the NHS.

But now four medicines previously deemed too expensive to prescribe will be approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) early next year.

Last night Paul said the decision to lift the ban on the drugs, designed to treat kidney cancer, offered hope to people suffering from similar illnesses.

When the couple paid for Avastin themselves, Karen was automatically denied NHS treatment and so they had to pay for all her care. But that national policy was revoked by Health Secretary Alan Johnson on November 25.

Paul said: “If they are going to lift a decision to ban Avastin for kidney cancer, then you would hope they would do the same for different types of cancer.

“It’s the same drugs just with different applications and they’ve banned it on a cost basis rather than efficiency. The kidney cancer is happening in January, but the bowel cancer is not due until around May.

“It does offer hope, though, that one day it will be free for everyone.”

The decision is a major victory for campaigners, patients and cancer specialists.

They had described Nice’s refusal to approve the drugs – which cost up to £70,000 a year per patient – as unfair, inhumane and condemning patients to an unnecessarily early death.

Last August, medicines watchdog Nice refused to approve the drugs because it said they were not good value for money. But it is now expected Avastin will be backed on January 14. It is also thought a cost-share scheme is being considered in which the NHS pays for a drug if it extends a patient’s life by an agreed time, but the drug company refunds the cost if the patient dies.

Paul said: “Karen’s fine now, she’s not having treatment at the moment. She’s enjoying life, very happy and looking forward to Christmas.

“It’s funny how your whole perspective changes when something like this happens. You just push it to the back of your minds.

“It’s made me more tolerant and much more relaxed. It makes you realise what’s important.” A spokeswoman for Nice said the organisation was reviewing all the drugs before the appraisal committee met.

“We will publish a next draft within four weeks of the committee’s meeting in January and issue final guidance in March 2009.”

For previous stories about Karen's struggle click the links below
Gift of life for cancer sufferer Karen
Karen so close to dream of life