Heartfelt plea for cancer drug

HAPPIER times . . . Terence O'Brien and daughter Kate

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A DAUGHTER whose beloved dad died of cancer before he could get a life-extending drug has called on the Government to make the treatment available to others.

Terence O'Brien (70), from Moorside, died from Carcinoid Neuroendocrine Tumours (NET cancer) while his family were battling to get the NHS to prescribe him the highly recommended drug, Everolimus.

At the time, the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), which had helped nearly 100,000 people with cancer access treatments not routinely available on the NHS since its introduction in April, 2011, had been closed to new drugs from October, 2015.

It has now re-opened for four new cancer drugs, potentially benefiting 4,500 patients and speeding up access by up to four months. But Everolimus is still not available.

Terence, who owned laser tag business Lase-r-ace in Derker and continued to work while enduring chemotherapy, had several misdiagnoses before it was confirmed he had cancer.

Everolimus is available in many other European and North American countries and has had a significant impact on life expectancy and quality of later life. But, while it's praised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), it's not recommended for cost reasons.

Doctors and Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams backed the family's efforts but their repeated requests were denied.

Terence's daughter Kate O'Brien has written a moving article for the Chronicle (see story, left) about his battle and paid tribute to her father's brave spirit.

She said: "My dad was unfortunately one of the 8,000 cancer patients in the UK to have had their lives cut short following a decision to withdraw NHS funding for 25 treatments.

"I appreciate that, even now, drugs need to be both clinically and cost-effective to be made available through the NHS. However, the Government's inability to put cancer patients first has led to a series of short-term approaches and patients are suffering as a result.

"I do wonder how fickle a government we have, and if things had been different, 12 months either side of our heartfelt pleas, would my dad still be here.

"I hope one day the Government are able to accept the benefits and evidence in front of them, funding Everolimus so no-one else has to go through what my dad and family have endured."

A NICE spokesman said: "We have already started looking at the drugs in the old CDF to see whether they can be recommended for routine funding. From now on all new cancer drugs will enter the NICE appraisal process before they are licensed.

"For products referred by Ministers to NICE, draft recommendations will be ready at the point of a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency and final guidance published within 90 days of them receiving marketing authorisation. This is faster than any other European country and will benefit NHS patients and companies alike."