Liver cancer patients want access to drug fund

Liver cancer patients have asked the Government for immediate access to the new Cancer Drug Fund to buy potentially life-extending medicines.

The fund has been set up so cancer sufferers can get hold of drugs which their doctor thinks could benefit them, but which are not widely available. The Conservatives pledged the fund in their election manifesto and it will be funded by £200 million saved by scrapping Labour's national insurance rise.

Kate Spall, who founded the Pamela Northcott Fund after her mother's death in 2007, said patients would be asking the Government for immediate help, even though the fund is not due to run until April next year.

She said: "Whilst the policy pledge is due in April 2011, today we are asking the Government to bring this date forward for the 400 liver cancer patients who will benefit from Nexavar."

It comes after the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) rejected an appeal by manufacturer Bayer over the drug Nexavar (sorafenib).

On Wednesday, Nice said it could not approve Nexavar for use on the NHS for advanced liver cancer because its "high cost could not be justified by its marginal benefit".

Normal life expectancy for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma is less than two years, and Nice says at a cost of £27,000 a patient can only expect 2.8 months extra life.