TODAY the lives of cancer sufferers across Oxfordshire have been bettered by the news that Sunitinib, the kidney cancer drug, is to be issued for general prescription on the NHS.

It is a victory for them and a victory for common sense.

The Government’s drug licensing body, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, yesterday issued draft guidance after years of lobbying by sufferers and their families.

Many, whose lives could have been prolonged by the drug, are now dead.

The prescription of Sunitinib has been a classic postcode lottery.

The so-called ‘wonder drug’ costs thousands of pounds for each course and has been freely available in some counties but not in others.

In Oxfordshire, the primary care trust dithered over its use, discriminating against some while prescribing it to three, without any kind of explanation.

Yesterday they lost a battle they could never have hoped to win.

The campaign group Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients, led by the indefatigable Clive Stone, has struck a blow for all those who have a right to receive treatment to combat this evil disease, but have so far been denied that chance.

An army of supporters – including all those who have campaigned on behalf of sufferers and fundraised to pay for private courses of treatment – have taken on the might of the PCT and won.

Suffers will not be able to receive their courses of Sunitinib straight away and the decision is open to appeal.

What kind of country is it we live in when all manner of cosmetic surgery is available on the NHS, including nose jobs, breast jobs and even treatments to have protruding ears pinned back, but a cancer drug is not?

At last, common sense has prevailed.