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| Cancer patient wins drug battle | Cancer patient wins drug battle |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A cancer patient has won a battle in the High Court to be given a drug which doctors say could prolong his life by up to three years. | |
| Colin Ross, 55, from Horsham, West Sussex, who has the bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma, launched his legal battle to obtain the drug Revlimid. | Colin Ross, 55, from Horsham, West Sussex, who has the bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma, launched his legal battle to obtain the drug Revlimid. |
| The High Court was told he would have two months to live without the drug. | The High Court was told he would have two months to live without the drug. |
| Mr Ross was challenging a decision by West Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT) last March to refuse funding. | Mr Ross was challenging a decision by West Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT) last March to refuse funding. |
| Judge Simon Grenfell overturned the PCT's decision that the new drug would not be cost-effective, and said Mr Ross's case should not be treated as "exceptional". | |
| The judge ruled that the trust's decision was "one which no reasonable authority could have made on the application before it". | |
| Mr Ross was diagnosed with incurable cancer in May 2004. | |
| Mr Ross's case demonstrates the devastating effect that the postcode lottery can have on people's lives Yogi Amin, solicitor | |
| The case has again raised the issue of a so-called "postcode lottery" for NHS treatments. | |
| Mr Ross said last week he would already have been receiving Revlimid if he had been living in neighbouring East Sussex. | |
| He found out about the discrepancy by talking to a fellow patient at the Royal Marsden Hospital who lives 12 miles away from him and was receiving the drug. | |
| Following the ruling, his solicitor Yogi Amin, from Irwin Mitchell, said: "Mr Ross is understandably delighted by the High Court's judgment to overturn the decision made by the West Sussex Primary Care Trust. | |
| "His NHS doctor and team of expert clinicians at the Royal Marsden Hospital prescribed Revlimid to Mr Ross as an exceptional case. | |
| "Doctors advised that the drug is the only viable option available to extend his life. | |
| "Despite this it has taken months, and a High Court legal battle, for him to gain access. | |
| "Mr Ross's case demonstrates the devastating effect that the postcode lottery can have on people's lives." |