‘Time for Stormont to act decisively on cancer drugs’

North Down MLA Gordon Dunne has given his backing to a Campaign calling on Stormont to give equal access to cancer drugs.

At present, there are 40 cancer drugs available to patients in England that are not readily available to patients in Northern Ireland. This week, Cancer Focus Northern Ireland presented its Equal Access Campaign to Stormont, and urged the Executive to act decisively to end the postcode lottery on access to new drugs.

Since June, the Equal Access Campaign has generated almost 24,000* pledges of support from members of the public, through an online petition and by a postcard campaign.

Speaking in support of the campaign, Gordon Dunne MLA said,

“Cancer will affect one in three of us at some point in our lives. That is why it is absolutely essential that my constituents have access to the best treatments available, I am sure we all know someone within our family our circle of friends who has been affected by cancer therefore it is imperative that we do all we can to combat this terrible disease”.

“I pledge my support to the people of North Down who demand equal access to the 40 drugs that are available to cancer patients living in England. The public have spoken, and have overwhelmingly endorsed the Equal Access Campaign. I call on the Executive to act in finding a resolution to this issue an uttermost priority”.

Roisin Foster, Chief Executive of Cancer Focus Northern Ireland said:

“England has had a Cancer Drugs Fund to pay for costly non-NICE approved drugs since 2011. Just this week, Scotland announced the creation of a £40m New Medicines Fund, paid for by the pharmaceutical industry under a UK-wide branded drug pricing scheme”.

“We are asking the Northern Ireland Executive to establish a similar fund, which could be adequately funded via rebated monies already being paid back to the Northern Ireland Health Service every quarter by the pharmaceutical companies, under the UK-wide PPRS* agreement.

Pictured is North Down MLA Gordon Dunne with Health Minister Jim Wells and other MLAs supporting the Equal Access Campaign.