Nivolumab is a life extending immunotherapy drug which has been made available to treat lung, skin and kidney cancers by the NHS in England. It works by blocking the signals sent to the brain by cancer cells convincing it they are healthy, resulting in the body’s immune system fighting them. It was initially considered too expensive and was only approved after a long running campaign notably featuring the late restaurant critic A.A. Gill.
It is undoubtedly good news that this treatment is available for these types of cancers, unfortunately whilst it could also benefit patients suffering from other forms of the disease it has not received similar approval. This was the position that the wife of Tekeurope salesman Andy Roxburgh found herself in after her diagnosis with stage 4 bowel cancer.
The good news is the manufacturer kindly agreed to provide the drug as a compassionate treatment and it has been extremely successful. However Andy has started a petition https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-stop-the-unfair-cancer-treatment-lottery calling for this drug to be made available to patients with rarer forms of this disease so others can benefit from the same treatment as his wife, please have a look at it and consider signing.
