| katiebell | 02-28-2007 06:37 PM |
J.K. Rowling fights for MS patients
J.K. Rowling, patron of the MS Society Scotland, spoke out yesterday against the Scottish Medicines Consortium’s decision to ban use of the drug Tysabri to treat multiple sclerosis (MS), due to its high cost. Quote:
I know from personal experience that MS can have a devastating effect on everyone who comes into contact with it. My mother suffered terribly with MS and it was so frustrating that there was little or nothing doctors could do to help her.
If a drug can help tackle MS - particularly the very aggressive type of relapsing MS we are talking about - it should not be ruled out because of cost alone.
Once again, decisions about treatment are being made by accountants rather than clinicians, and I hope MSPs will speak up on behalf of the thousands of families affected by MS across Scotland.
| Tysabri, which costs £15,000 per year, is prescribed as a last resort for patients who have not had success with any other form of treatment.
According to Mark Hazelwood, director of the MS Society Scotland: Quote:
People affected by MS in Scotland should have the same access to treatments as their counterparts in Ireland, Germany, the U.S. and elsewhere.
More that 10,000 people are now taking this drug worldwide, but we are barely out of the starting blocks.
| Ironically, Scotland has the highest rate of MS worldwide, with one in 500 people afflicted with the disease. Nearly 1,000 of them could potentially benefit from Tysabri. | 