A CANCER patient `sentenced to death' because the NHS would not pay for a drug that could prolong her life, has lost her latest bid to get the treatment.

Grandmother Jean Murphy 62, who has at most eighteen months to live, was told that treatment with the drug Sutent, could extend her life by six months.

An NHS panel was ordered by a judge to look at its case again after initially refusing Mrs Murphy the drug.

After the panel ruled against her again, Mrs Murphy launched the current appeal which was turned down yesterday following a hearing at the headquarters of the Salford Primary Care Trust in Salford yesterday. Mrs Murphy's lawyer Mark McGhee, said Mrs Murphy who has kidney cancer, was "utterly devastated" by the Trust's ruling. He said: "The answer was no in emphatic terms, and the decision was made in accordance with its policy and procedures."

Though disappointed at the decision himself, he said it would not stop him pursuing further legal action. "We will have to look very, very carefully at the decision and the reasoning behind it" he added.

"The only option then would be to go back to the High Court, but the sad truth is that time is running out in this particular case.

"Such action would take weeks, and tragically Mrs Murphy does not have weeks, if this drug were to have any beneficial effects."

"Lost"

He said: "To make matters worse, her husband Michael who has Crohn's disease, and for whom she cares, has already made it clear that if his wife is denied this treatment, he himself has effectively lost the will to live."

Mrs Murphy from Salford, who is in constant pain and uses a wheelchair, had already twice been denied the drug, which an expert said could shrink her tumour, giving her vital extra weeks of life.

It is rarely prescribed in Greater Manchester, despite being routinely available in Cheshire and Liverpool, but a judge ordered a review of the case after finding that the Trust had not considered Mrs Murphy's circumstances.

The drug, which costs £3,500 per month, was recommended by her consultant at Christie Hospital, Prof Robert Hawkins who described her as `an ideal patient.' He said it would have a 40 per cent chance of shrinking the tumour, and would prolong her life by around six months.

At the High Court, Prof Conor Gearty, a human rights expert argued that the NHS panel had acted unlawfully and unreasonably, and that her situation deserved special treatment.

The Salford PCT voted against prescribing the drug, claiming that her case was not exceptional enough. The appeal hearing yesterday came to the same conclusion.

Petition

Thousands of people had signed a petition urging the Trust to change its mind in favour of Mrs Murphy, and her family had urged Health Secretary Alan Johnson to intervene.

Her daughter Cathy Ostasz wrote: "Jean Murphy has been sentenced to death because Labour don't care. Without the treatment Jean Murphy will die."

Last summer broadcaster Tony Wilson, who later died of a heart attack, had to rely on showbiz friends to pay for the drug because health bosses wouldn't approve the treatment.

Salford Primary Care Trust said that a small number of studies on the effectiveness of Sutent, indicate that for the majority of patients - around 60 per cent - the drug had no effect in delaying the progression of cancer.

In 40 per cent of sample studies, there was an indication that the progression of the disease was delayed typically, for eight months.

The Trust says that while Sutent is an advance in the treatment of Mrs Murphy's type of cancer, it does not provide a cure to what is inevitably, a terminal condition.

It says the Trust is investing new money into cancer services for Salford people, including £1.5 million for services at Christie, £700,000 at local hospitals and £430,000 on breast cancer screening.

By funding Sutent treatment, it says the Trust would have make choices about which other services not to fund.