Time runs out in cancer drug row

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A breast cancer sufferer battling the NHS to be allowed to take a life-prolonging drug has run out of time to benefit from the treatment.

Teesside health officials told Colette Mills, 58, she would have to pay for all her cancer care, at Â£15,000 a month, if she bought herself Avastin.

The mother-of-two from Hutton Rudby in North Yorkshire, believed her chances would have been improved with the drug.

But now doctors have told her the disease has spread too far.

'Different story'

Ms Mills was being treated with the drug Taxol by the South Tees NHS Trust but claimed it would have been more effective if supplemented by Avastin.

She said: "I am very angry. They have now told me Taxol is not working, nor would Avastin, and moved me onto another drug.

"If they had not been dragging their heels for the last four months it could have been a different story."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson defended the health authority's decision in December.

He said patients must be treated either by the NHS or privately.