Jerry’s Journey

The long time battle that Jerry has had with the Province for access to Avastin has finally been resolved!!! Wrong.

Premier McGuinty has sent a disappointing response and it now is evident that he is not familiar with his own government’s process and has not bothered to do any due diligence around this topic, not to mention the fact that his recommended course of action has already been a road that Jerry has “journied” down for the past year.

There is still obviously more work to be done here…the content of the letter from the Premier’s office follows:

“Premier Dalton McGuinty, has forwarded your e-mail regarding coverage of the anti-cancer drug Avastin to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Currently, all new cancer drugs, approved for use by Health Canada and submitted for funding consideration in Ontario are reviewed by the ministry’s expert advisers, the Committee to Evaluate Drugs (CED), which works with experts from Cancer Care Ontario (CCO).

These experts consider a drug’s clinical value, cost-effectiveness and impact on health services as compared to existing treatments, and make a recommendation to the Executive Officer (EO). The EO then makes the final decision concering funding. This collaborative evaluation process ensures that decisions are made with input from cancer treatment experts.

The CED has reviewed Avastin for its use in metastatic colorectal cancer and has advised that the information provided does not meet the standards of scientific evidence and cost-effectiveness required to supoprt a funding recommendation. As a result, we are not funding Avastin at this time.

I understand that you and many others hoped for a positive funding recommendation for Avastin. I assure you that the ministry will review, as quickly as possible, any new information from the drug manufacturer that may have an impact on this funding decision.

Thank you for taking the time to write about this important matter.

Sincerely,

Helen Stevenson, Assistant Deputy Minister and Executive Officer

c: The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, Premier”

This week I received a copy of a letter that my MPP (Julia Munro - York-Simcoe) sent to George Smitherman addressing the need for Avastin in Ontario. (Peter Van Loan, MP, was also cc’d).

Julia Munro’s responsiveness and action is commendable, so hopefully, Mr. Smitherman responds in an equally as timely fashion. To date, all other communications directly to Mr. Smitherman have essentially gone unanswered.

Julia’s letter reads: “Dear Mr. Smitherman: This letter is on behalf of one of my constituents who wishes to know why the Ministry of Health will not provide Avastin treatment for cancer patients. A copy of his letter is enclosed. I would appreciate it if you would review my constituent’s letter and inform him why this treatment is not provided and if you have any plans to change your policy. Please respond directly to my constituent with a copy to my riding office. Sincerely, Julia Munro, MPP, York North)”

Just wanted to share this communication and of course encourage you all to simply email or call your MPs and MPPs to take action.

Many thanks!