---

Herceptin ruling will stop patients getting potentially lifesaving drugs
PATIENTS will be denied access to drugs at the forefront of medical research after a landmark judgment on the breast cancer treatment Herceptin.
The Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that it was illegal for health trusts to discriminate against patients by funding expensive unlicensed drugs case by case.

The ruling means that trusts will now either have to agree to pay for a new drug for any patient whose doctor recommends it — with serious implications for NHS budgets — or refuse the treatment for the entire population it serves.

Dozens of drugs that do not yet have a licence for certain uses — including treatments for life-threatening conditions — which are prescribed by doctors could be affected.

The decision came as Tony Blair and Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, held an emergency meeting at No 10 to address concerns about spiralling health service deficits, which are expected to pass £800 million for the past financial year.

The hearing at the Court of Appeal came after a lengthy legal battle between Ann Marie Rogers, a grandmother from Swindon, and her primary care trust (PCT). The PCT had decided not to pay for Mrs Rogers’s treatment with Herceptin on the ground that she was not an exceptional case. Ruling in favour of Mrs Rogers, the court said that the trust’s policy of judging patients case by case was “irrational and unlawful”. ...