Cancer drugs 'must be discarded'

A woman left with £16,000 of drugs when her father died from cancer has been told other patients cannot use them.

Babette Marzheuser-Wood, of Sevenoaks, battled to get the drug Revlimid in the hope it would prolong her father's life but he died before taking any pills.

The Kent lawyer subsequently offered them to the NHS and cancer charities but was told it was against regulations and the drugs must be thrown away.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society said the drugs were deemed to be unsafe.

"You have no way of knowing if they've been stored properly, or if they've degraded because they've been stored in too hot conditions," said spokesman David Pruce.

"Really, we would say you have to be safe rather than sorry."

Ms Marzheuser-Wood said she still hoped that something could be done with the drugs in order that another cancer sufferer could benefit.

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