Campaigners wept with joy after the NHS’s drug-approvals body overturned a ban on a life-extending cancer drug.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is recommending Sunitinib as a first-line treatment for kidney cancer, meaning patients could be routinely prescribed the drug in Oxfordshire from June.

Cancer sufferers had been fighting against Nice’s previous stance that the drug was too expensive.

At least 22 patients had been turned down by Oxfordshire NHS Primary Car Trust.

Kidney cancer sufferer Clive Stone, 61, of Freeland, set up the Oxfordshire group Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients to fight against a ‘postcode lottery’, where Sunitinib was being made available by PCTs in some areas but not routinely in Oxfordshire.

He said: “It’s incredible news.

“It’s what we have all been waiting for.

“It’s a victory for the ordinary citizen and taxpayer. I’m really emotional.

“It means when I need the drug, I should get it.

“I’m just so sorry for all those families who have lost loved ones.”

Now Mr Stone is leading calls for then PCT to implement the Nice’s new guidelines immediately.

He said: “There are people who need Sunitinib now.”

Nice spokesman Greg Jones said it had overturned its initial draft guidance on Sunitinib because Pfizer – the manufacturer of the drug – had offered to pay for patients to receive the drug for the first six weeks.

Then the NHS would pay for further courses of treatment.

But he said it would be another three months after the official final guidance on Sunitinib was issued next month before PCTs would be legally bound to prescribe Sunitinib.

Like Mr Stone, kidney cancer sufferer Peter Beckett, 62, of Long Hanborough, has had a kidney removed and been told he will need Sunitinib in the near future to prolong his life.

He said: “I’m ecstatic the drug’s going to be made available, but five months is going to be too long for a lot of people. It’s already too late for some people.”

Andy Crabb, 50, of Abingdon, who successful appealed against the PCT’s refusal to prescribe the drug, said it had given him a new lease of life.

He said: “It’s fantastic news for everyone who needs the drug, but they want it now. It’s a brilliant drug. I’m still going strong and getting stronger.”

Until Nice issues its formal guidance next month, Oxfordshire PCT’s policy is to only prescribe the drug in “exceptional circumstances”.

To date, only three out of 25 requests for the drug in Oxfordshire have been successful.

Ljuba Stirzaker, a consultant in healthcare priorities at the PCT, welcomed Nice’s latest recommendations.

She said: “We will start reviewing our interim policy in line with the draft recommendation and will finalise it when final guidance is published in March.”

However, health campaigner Kate Spall, an expert in contesting patients’ appeals to get their drugs prescribed on the NHS, said the drug should be made available now.

She said: “Oxfordshire PCT should be ashamed of the amount of patients they have rejected.

“For goodness’ sake — let the patients have it now. Three months for a terminally-ill patient is a long, long time.”

  • Widower Tony Williams is one step closer to scattering his late wife Elke’s ashes.

Mrs Williams, 65, of Witney, died shortly after Christmas, after battling kidney cancer for two years.

The mother-of-two had twice been refused Sunitinib by Oxfordshire PCT.

Mr Williams did not want to scatter his wife’s ashes until the campaign to get it routinely prescribed on the NHS was won.

While upset that the change in policy had come too late for his wife, he said: “It’s brilliant news, absolutely brilliant.

“My wife was cremated and I have got her ashes. We aren’t going to scatter them until we’ve won the campaign and ended the postcode lottery. We’re one step closer to that happening.”

Mr Williams, 69, said he backed calls for the PCT to pre-empt Nice’s final guidance and make the drug available to NHS patients as soon as possible.

He said: “Time is of the essence – people are dying. The longer they muck about procrastinating, the more people are going to die. The drug should be on the shelves now.

“We don’t know for sure if Elke would still be alive now if she had been prescribed Sunitinib, but she deserved the chance.

“People must be able to get the medication they need, no matter what the illness.”