Thursday, April 17, 2008

Ontario urged to cover cancer drug

From the Toronto Sun:
Alain Gourd lives on the other side of the Ottawa River in Quebec -- and for him it has been the difference between life and death.

Gourd, a former deputy minister of communications for the federal government, was diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer in March 2003. It had spread to his liver and lungs, and the resident of Gatineau was told he had six months to live.

"I had 14 metastasized cancer nodules on two lungs and I could not go for surgery. I was cooked. I started chemotherapy with Avastin and after two years of treatment the tumours diminished from 14 to three," he said yesterday.

Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, British Columbia and Quebec have made Avastin available through public funding. Ontario has not. ...more

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