On Thursday 26 January 2017, Chris met with Bonnie Fox – a South Croydon resident and campaigner for the breast cancer drug Kadcyla – to discuss the drug and its life changing impact for women with metastatic breast cancer.
Bonnie, herself a breast cancer patient, has been receiving treatment for the last two years. She has been told that she will eventually be required to move onto Kadcyla for further treatment.
Kadcyla is a low toxicity drug that provides both a longer average extension and better quality of life for patients than comparative drugs.
However, the NHS funding organisation NICE has concluded that the drug is not cost effective and that it should therefore be withdrawn from the NHS. It is estimated that a full course of treatment for an individual patient would cost the NHS £90,000.
Following their discussion Chris attended a House of Commons debate regarding the drug at which he spoke in its favour.
After the debate, Chris said: “I am very grateful for my colleague Siobhan McDonagh for arranging this debate. Kadcyla could help hundreds of women in the years to come and to deprive them of such an effective drug would be wrong.
“I have also written to the Minister for Health and to the head of NICE to highlight the importance of keeping Kadcyla on the NHS.
“It is my sincere hope that the drug is re-evaluated, and that those women who need it are provided with this massively life improving treatment.”
