Cancer patients welcome NHS drug policy change

Steven Marsland, pictured with his family, said he felt anxious about potentially losing the drug keeping him alive

Cancer patients said they felt relieved they could continue taking life-saving drugs after a policy change.

Doctors were not allowed to automatically prescribe two bowel cancer drugs on the NHS in England if patients had taken a break from them.

Steven Marsland, 38, from Brantham, Suffolk, said the decision meant he now had "one less thing to worry about".

The policy affected the drugs cetuximab and panitumumab.

Mr Marsland has been through 93 rounds of chemotherapy and 28 lots of radiotherapy since he was diagnosed in 2018

Before the rule change, if a patient took a treatment break for longer than six weeks they would have to reapply for NHS funding, with no guarantee it would be approved.

Mr Marsland, who has incurable cancer, needed to pause his treatment for a hernia operation last year. He had to take a shorter break due to the policy and was left worrying he might have to fund cetuximab himself in the future.

The father-of-two, who works as a principal technologist for BT, has been through 93 rounds of chemotherapy and 28 lots of radiotherapy since he was diagnosed in 2018.

Mr Marsland, pictured with his wife Emma, campaigned to change the policy alongside the charity Bowel Cancer UK

"This decision means I no longer need to live with the anxiety of losing a line of treatment," he said.

"It will open up many options for people to have skin recovery breaks, holidays and minor surgeries. I won't have to cover up illnesses in the fear of having the rug pulled out."

Jane Ashford said she lived in constant fear of her drug being taken away

Jane Ashford, from Bristol, described the development as "amazing", saying she had lived in "constant fear" of her treatment being taken away.

The 50-year-old, who is now in remission from bowel cancer, said her oncologist was keen for her to have a break "as the toxicity of the drugs was leading to serious health issues" but she had "no choice but to continue with no breaks under the arbitrary rule".

"I had to leave my job as an NHS lead nurse specialist because of the physical, emotional and psychological side effects," she said.

What is bowel cancer?

• Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and the second biggest cancer killer

• Also called colorectal cancer, it affects the large bowel, which is made up of the colon and rectum

• Nearly 43,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK

• Bowel cancer is treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early

• Symptoms to look our for include bleeding from your bottom, blood in your poo, a change in bowel habit, unexplained weight loss, extreme tiredness and pain or lump in your tummy

Source: Bowel Cancer UK

The rule change has come too late for some patients. Roy Davison, a father-of-three from Preston, was told he could not go back on panitumumab on the NHS after taking a break for liver surgery.

Roy Davison, pictured with two of his daughters, would have done anything for anyone and had a huge heart, his family said

The engineer, diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014, was making good progress and the drug had shrunk his tumours enough to make them operable, his wife Carolyn said.

"Then the doctors told us the rules had changed and suddenly the drug was snatched away. It seemed so wrong and so cruel.

"It was like a prescription was written but he was only allowed to have half of it. We sought second opinions from oncologists who all said they would like to put him back on panitumumab if they could," she said.

They wrote to their MP and the drug company explaining his situation, but Mr Davison was forced on to other drugs and his cancer spread. He died aged 59 in 2017.

Genevieve Edwards, chief executive at Bowel Cancer UK, which has spent five years campaigning on the issue, said: "Patients with advanced bowel cancer have very few treatment options and these drugs are often their only lifeline.

"This decision by NHS England will bring new hope for advanced bowel cancer patients to have a better quality of life, spend more time with loved ones and, for some, even the chance of full remission."

A spokesperson for NHS England said: "The publication of this new policy provides additional flexibility for patients with colorectal cancer treated with cetuximab and panitumumab, enabling them to restart treatment even if their cancer has progressed whilst they were on a treatment break, provided their doctor believes they are likely to benefit from these drugs."