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3:24am, Thu 4 Apr 2013 Bowel cancer drug funding fears

Clock is ticking for bowel cancer patients, charity warns

Last updated Thu 4 Apr 2013

We're very worried that the clock is ticking for future bowel cancer patients.

The uncertainty around how these drugs will be funded in the years to come will mean patients who could benefit from having treatment in the future, may be denied access because the money isn't there to fund it.

It is vital that the funding remains in place to ensure that bowel cancer patients will continue to get access to the drugs which their doctors say they need on the NHS.

Without it we fear patients' lives will be put at risk. We simply can't go backwards to a time when cancer patients had to beg for life-extending treatment.

– Mark Flannagan, Chief Executive of Beating Bowel Cancer

Bowel cancer drug funding fears

As many as 6,500 bowel cancer patients could be denied access to life-extending drugs when a cash pot to pay for them ceases to exist at the end of the year, a charity has warned.