A NORTH-EAST couple whose request for NHS funding for a new cancer drug was turned down because it had “no clinical benefits” have released extracts from their consultant’s report describing its effects as “dramatic”.

John Brewis, 54, from Seaton Sluice, near Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, was astonished when the NHS North of Tyne Exceptional Circumstances Panel turned down a funding request for a drug called Erbitux, on the grounds that it was not working.

His wife, Mary, 53, who has been battling advanced bowel cancer for six years, has been paying £1,100 a week to receive Erbitux privately since the end of March because it is not available on the NHS.

Her plight has attracted international attention, with a crew from US TV company CBS filming at their home yesterday.

An application for NHS funding for the drug – which can cost about £20,000 a year – by Mrs Brewis’ cancer specialist last November was turned down in December by the NHS panel.

Since beginning treatment, Mr Brewis said his wife’s health has steadily improved and she is now able to lead a more normal life.

A scan on May 13 confirmed that Erbitux had reduced the size of tumours in Mrs Brewis’ lungs and reduced cancer activity throughout her body.

Because of this evidence, their oncologist, Dr Philip Atherton, from the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, made a second application for funding last week.

In his report, Dr Atherton said the tumours in her lung “have all responded to the treatment. This, along with a significant reduction in the tumour marker levels in the blood are indicative of an excellent response.”

Dr Atherton added: “This gratifying response now puts her in a position of giving her something to hope for, not only in terms of improving and maintaining her quality of life, but also potentially increasing her life expectancy.”

Given the “dramatic response”

Dr Atherton asked for three months of funding.

But the PCT panel ruled that “no evidence has been demonstrated to show there have been clinical benefits or exceptional circumstances”, and turned the couple down.

Last night, Mr Brewis said: “Just what does it take to get them to fund this drug?”

This week’s ruling by the drugs watchdog Nice (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) that some patients can get Erbitux on the NHS does not change Mrs Brewis’ situation.

Because her cancer has now spread to her lungs, she will still not routinely qualify for funding.

A spokeswoman for NHS North of Tyne said the purpose of the panel’s deliberations is to determine if the patient is significantly different from the general population of patients with the condition, and if the patient is likely to gain significantly more benefit than might normally be expected.

“The fact that a treatment is likely to have an effect for a patient is not in itself a basis for exception,” she added.

Yesterday, a Parliamentary Early Day Motion about Mrs Brewis was put down by Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell, calling on the Government to fund all cancer treatments, “no matter what the cost”.