LONDON, July 20 (UPI) -- The National Health Service in England has refused to give a patient with advanced kidney cancer a new drug even though the medicine is being provided free.
Barrie Clark, 61, was told in May he could receive a free supply temsirolimus from the pharmaceutical company that makes the medication, The Sunday Times of London reported Sunday.
However, Clark said he was told by the National Health Service he could not take up Wyeth's offer at his local hospital because it was against management policy.
He could receive the drug only by paying for nurses to administer it privately. Clark was told he could not receive the medication because it was not yet on the NHS list of prescribed drugs, the newspaper reported.
"I have been denied a free drug for a long time when there was no alternative treatment," Clark wrote in a letter to officials.
"We find this appalling and demand that the drug be offered free of charge immediately. How many other people has this happened to? You have jeopardized my life and caused great anguish to me and my family. That is disgraceful," he wrote.
