Drug Deals

The steady breakdown of the central nervous system leaves thousands in wheelchairs, others blind and still others disabled and incontinent.

However, just two injections a day allows sufferers, like Hillingdon businessman Graham Smith, to play football or take to the dancefloor on a whim.

Beta interferon not only makes life easier, it allows those with its prescription to really live.

But in a closed room last week the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) held a meeting at its central London headquarters to decide whether to continue funding beta interferon for newly diagnosed patients.

This God-like stance angers Mr Smith, especially when the bottom line is cost.

Just 1,700 of the 85,000 MS sufferers across the UK are currently prescribed beta interferon, and if NICE goes ahead with its provisional plan to scrap the drug, £25 million will remain in the NHS coffers. The ruling is expected to be released publicly by NICE in the coming days.

Although the ruling will not affect Mr Smith, who has been on beta interferon since the drug's introduction over four years ago, he says potentially the drug can better the quality of life for thousands who suffer the disease that cripples the central nervous system.

He worries that politicians, rather than physicians, hold the future of so many in their hands.

Mr Smith spoke of the improvements in his own life since he began his course of beta interferon. He can now confidently drive, he has taken up water skiing and established his own computer training business ,, Best Training in Uxbridge Road.

However it is the thoughts of his immediate family, and their pleas to PM Tony Blair and health authorities, that truly bring to light the life giving qualities of beta interferon.

The following is part of a letter written by Mr Smith's seven-year-old son Nathan to PM Blair:

'My name is Nathan Smith and my daddy has MS I can remember the times when he has been taken away from me and mummy in an ambulance sometimes for weeks.

'My daddy cannot play football as a striker so I let him be a good goalie, he is really cool. My daddy is scared all the time not knowing what the future holds but beta interferon has given him more energy to do things with me.''

'Please help my daddy stay as he is, and not get any worse for me and mummy.''

Mr Smith said the pain and mental torment that used to exist in his life could be avoided by fellow MS sufferers prescribed beta interferon.

'It is hard waking up in the morning and not knowing whether you are going to be able to get up, or brush your teeth, or even read a book because you have gone blind in one eye, and obviously it affects the whole family,'' he said.

'MS is a condition that worsens over a period of time, there is no cure for it, no prevention and beta interferon is the only known drug that will slow its progression.''

Prior to taking beta interferon Mr Smith suffered relapses every six months, resulting in almost total paralysis and up to six weeks confinement in a hospital bed. Now relapses are up to 18 months apart.

But beta interferon is not an option for all MS sufferers.

Many choose to avoid the twice daily injections, while the symptoms of others do not improve with the drug.

However, this seemingly low numbers of prescribers, that of 1,700, also reflects the availability of the drug and what Mr Smith described as 'the postcode lottery'.

Due to its high cost many local health authorities do not make the drug available to M.S patients. Hopeful prescribers are also subjected to medical examinations and those who have an advanced form of MS are denied.

Although it is not the preferred, or most suitable, drug for most MS sufferers Mr Smith believes its obvious benefits means it should always be an option.

''MS sufferers just want some control over their own lives, and they should be granted the option if they want it.

'It can be the most effective of all MS drugs and can drastically change the lives of many.'

If NICE does decide to pull the funding on beta interferon, the 2,500 patients diagnosed with MS every year will still have the option of purchasing the drug independently ,, at the princely sum of £10,000 each year.