I belong to a book club forum and one of the "women" who posts on there has asked for help. This is her post: Cancer Hi everyone, I was wondering if you had a minute or two that you could spare please. My Mum has a cancer called Multiple Myeloma and NICE have decided that life saving drugs should not be allowed to be offered to Multiple Myeloma patients due to the "cost". The charity Myeloma UK have set up an on-line petition called "Access Denied" to try and collect as many signatures as possible to appeal against NICE's decision. Unfortunately as Multiple Myeloma is not a very well known cancer, they are struggling to get people to sign the petition. I am therefore wondering it you have a minute or two would you mind adding your name (or remain anomynous) to the petition? It can be found on the following link: http://www.myelomaonline.org.uk/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=495&srcid=492 I very much appreciate your help. Thank you, Nici x I don't know how old Nici or her mum are and don't really care all I care about is the fact that drugs that are available to save lives are not being given because they cost so much. Mum and dad had to face this a few years ago when the Drs were complaining about how much it cost for my monthly medications (currently around £1000 if we had to pay full price for everything). The Drs wanted to see if any could be dropped?, was it necessary to take them all? You can guess what my parents reply was seeing as I'm still here and the cost of medication has increased! Would you please take the time to check out the link and sign the petition? Thank you for your time. Laura x
I will sign the petition... but why not direct this at the drug companies too who no doubts are making an astronomical profit on the drugs in the first place....
I don't know whether that has been done. The girl's mother has been in touch with her MP to try and get help.
RE: I will sign the petition... The trouble is that with any new drugs there are development and research costs to take into account. And I don't think it's purely a case of saying that the NHS should supply these drugs when they are so expensive, there isn't an infinite amount of money for them to spend - as more and more treatments come on board, longer life expectancy etc then more money is requitred.....we need to look at alternative ways of funding the health service.
what it doesn't tell you on the website is that you can get that drug on the NHS in scotland, but you can't get it england & wales. How absurd is that?