‘Wonder drug’ too late for dad
A grieving son says his father’s life could have been saved by a drug like Keytruda. He is just one of those who are dying while politicians delay, reports Hamish McNeilly.
One doctor implied he had months to live and it was like, ‘holy s***, we were clear one month and now it is back’. Mark Dore
Graeme Dore’s son says his dad’s life could have been saved if he’d had access to one of the so-called miracle drugs that have been tied up for months in a political row.
Mark Dore’s father died last month in Dunedin Hospital. He is one of the melanoma sufferers that drug access campaigners had warned would die as the Government delayed funding a chemotherapy drug like Keytruda or Opdivo.
Just seven months ago he went to the doctor for a birthmark that wouldn’t stop bleeding. Days later the 65-year-old was diagnosed with melanoma, and had 46 lymph nodes removed.
With no publicly-funded medication available, Graeme Dore had to use his retirement fund, paying around $10,000 a month for Trametinib, one of several new melanoma drugs that are available internationally but not in New Zealand.
‘‘He didn’t understand why he had to pay for something when he had never been sick, but all of a sudden the one time he got sick he had to fund that,’’ Mark said. ‘‘I believe my dad should still be here.’’
Dore’s doctor, oncologist Chris Jackson, is also medical director of the Cancer Society. He is pleading for the Government to accelerate funding of a drug like Opdivo, before more lives are lost unnecessarily. ‘‘People have gone without, suffered, and many who could have benefited have died,’’ he writes in an open letter (right).
Dore, who had planned to retire in August, was diagnosed with cancer, fought it off – and then it returned.
‘‘One doctor implied he had months to live and it was like, ‘holy s... we were clear one month and now it is back’,’’ his son said.
Although his father initially responded well to the medication, he had mixed results from hospital-supplied pills and on May 6 was taken off the medication after Jackson urged him to switch to Opdivo – an advanced melanoma treatment approved by Pharmac but available from July 1.
The same day, Labour MP Clare Curran wrote a letter on Dore’s behalf to Pharmac, seeking an urgent supply of Opdivo. Dore died a week later. Pharmac responded to the letter on May 24, almost a fortnight after his death. ‘‘I’m surprised they didn’t respond quickly, and I’m surprised by the tenor of the response, which was indifferent,’’ Curran said.
Questions to the Minister of Health, Dr Jonathan Coleman, were referred to Pharmac.
Pharmac chief executive Steffan Crausaz said that where funding of a new medicine was considered, ‘‘we would all like to see access made available as soon as possible’’.
However, Pharmac had to balance speed of access with ensuring that the systems, services, monitoring and funding could also be managed.
That’s little comfort for the Dore family, who have tried to alleviate some of their pain by giving leftover medication to the family of a loved one fighting advanced melanoma.
Mark Dore was adamant that if Keytruda or Opdivo had been funded earlier, his dad would still be alive.
‘‘I know it is extreme blaming the Government, but I do. Why is this funding not there, why do we announce something, but delay it two months . . . how many people died in-between?’’