Cancer tablets 'may cost house'

The couple say they may have sell their home to pay for the drugs

A Kent man with lung cancer is paying £70 a day for tablets which are not available on the NHS.

David Bardoe who was diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer two years ago takes Tarceva, which is available in Scotland and the US but not on the NHS.

He said he may have to sell his house in Gravesend to fund the treatment.

Drugs company Roche said Tarceva looked set to be approved in 12 to 18 months. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) declined to comment.

Mr Bardoe has to take one Tarceva tablet each day costing £70 per pill - his treatment costs thousands of pounds each month.

When you want the help it's not there David Bardoe

His wife, Kathy, said: "Everything's been taken away really.

"You expect when you get older and you're going to retire, that you will sit back and have a nice life, have your holidays, do what you like, but that's all gone out of the window now."

Mr Bardoe said he wanted the drugs to be paid for by the NHS and said: "I had my tonsils out when I was five and the next time I went into hospital to have my varicose veins done in my right leg, I was 65.

Trials under way

"I never ever had anything off the NHS between then, but when you want the help it's not there."

UK-wide trials of Tarceva, funded by Cancer Research UK and co-ordinated by University College London, began in 2004.

A Roche spokesman said: "Unlike Herceptin, Tarceva has already been licensed in the UK, but has not been given Nice guidance.

"Tarceva is expected to be given Nice guidance in 12 to 18 months time."

He said: "Tarceva can slow the progression of cancer, but cannot stop it. It can increase life expectancy by two months or longer."