Drug that changed Janice's life

Two years ago Janice Chapman was told she had a disease that would leave her wheelchair-bound within six months.

The news was devastating. She had a three-year-old son and was already debilitated by symptoms of the illness but to be wheelchair-bound would be much worse.

She kept falling over, losing her balance, couldn t speak properly and had terrible headaches.

Then she tried a drug which transformed her life. All that remains is numbness in one of her legs but the other problems are gone. She is able to play with her son, Thomas, and walk him to school like other mums.

Janice, of Browns Lane, Uckfield, has multiple sclerosis and the drug she injects daily is beta interferon which has been in the national headlines this year because of a threat to ban its prescription.

Mark Brown, 29, of Selby Road, Uckfield, has just been offered the chance of taking beta interferon . . . and this offer could have come through just in time because next month a ruling on future use of the drug is expected.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been investigating the benefits of beta interferon as against the cost of prescription - 10,000 a year - to the National Health Service.

Earlier this year the organisation issued its provisional decision that nobody else should receive beta interferon but those already taking it might remain on it. Until the final decision, health authorities were told they could continue to prescribe it.

Both Janice and Mark are appalled that other people might not be able to try beta interferon. It is not suitable for everybody with MS; not all those offered the drug accept it because of daily injections and fear of side effects and not everybody is helped, but it does offer hope of leading a more normal life.

Jenny Gearing, a committee member of the Uckfield and Heathfield branch of the MS Society was diagnosed with MS 17 years ago. When she asked about beta interferon she was told she did not qualify. But she still feels it is wrong that some people who might be helped could be refused treatment on grounds of cost.

Another committee member, Mrs Mandy Duffy, said: The trouble is NICE is only looking at the financial cost of the drug. It is not looking at the costs of not supplying it. The Government would be put to much greater expense in looking after people without it because their condition may well deteriorate. They don t consider the cost to families.

Mrs Duffy added that if all 85,000 people in the country suffering from MS wanted to use the drug then that might explain concern over the cost. But in reality it was not suitable for all and could only benefit a small proportion of them.

The local MS Society branch held an open morning last month at the Luxford Day Centre, Uckfield, and is planning another tomorrow (Saturday) between 10am and noon. Anybody interested in learning more about the disease is welcome.