Vital lifeline drug
DECISIONS about what new drugs should be freely available on the NHS are a minefield.
These medicines can be extraordinarily expensive and everyone is well aware that Scottish health service budgets are stretched to breaking point.
The Record has campaigned on these issues for years and there is no doubt that healthcare improvement organisation Scottish Medicines Consortium – who ultimately make the decisions – now follow a more transparent and fair process.
The case of Susan Skinner vividly brings home the extent to which these judgment calls are a matter of life and death.
The mum of two was unable to return home to Scotland to spend her last days with her loved ones because life-extending drugs she was getting in Ireland are not available in Scotland.
Susan’s family believe it added 18 months to her life and there are renewed calls for the drug to be made available here.
In the end, that will come down to money – but this is certainly a case that must be revisited.
ANNE MacLeanChang is living proof that a drug campaign can save lives.
Anne was one of four women who successfully campaigned with Breast Cancer Now and the Daily Record for the drug Kadcyla to be available on Scotland’s NHS. Now,
she is supporting campaigners who want Perjeta to be approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium. Kadcyla was supposed to extend Anne’s life by six months but 18 months later, the 48-year-old is still enjoying life with her husband Winston and sons Ollie, seven, and Nathan, nine.
She said: “These drugs give us a better chance of life and a better quality of life. That’s why I am advocating Perjeta.”