Tumour surgery and access to drugs are among topics on the agenda at a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours (APPGBT) taking place at Westminster today.
Attendees will hear from the mother of a 26-year-old brain tumour patient who has been told he cannot access a potentially life-saving drug.
As a graduate who had recently established his own business, Shay Emerton had much to look forward to when, in April 2021, he suffered a seizure whilst playing football and went into respiratory arrest. He rushed to hospital where scans revealed he had a grade 2 glioma.
Shay's mum Dawn will address the APPGBT – for which Brain Tumour Research holds the secretariat – sharing the promising data surrounding a new drug called Vorasidenib and explain the issues surrounding this drug being available to UK patients like her son.
Also presenting will be Siobhain McDonagh MP, who is campaigning to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with brain tumours and who, last month, launched her brain tumour bill in the House of Commons. Siobhain’s sister, Baroness Margaret McDonagh, died of a glioblastoma (GBM) in June.
There will be a holistic overview of the diagnosis, investigation and treatment of patients with brain tumours from Peter Whitfield, a Consultant Neurosurgeon at the South West Neurosurgery Centre, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Honorary Professor at the Peninsula Medical School and President of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons. And Dr Nicky Huskens, CEO of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, will update on the mission’s discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and draft plans, that in tandem, will support some recommendations that came from the APPG’s Pathway to a Cure – breaking down the barriers inquiry report.
We will share an update from today’s meeting in our e-news later this week. To subscribe to receive our weekly e-news bulletins, click here.
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