Access Denied

Cancer treatments that mobilise the sufferer’s immune system to fight the disease have dramatically altered the odds for some patients in recent years. But who will be able to access them –and at what cost to the state?

Jessica Grehan: ‘Pembro is one of the very few options I have left’ Picture: Michael McLaughlin
Professor Michael Barry: clinical trial data on Pembro was ‘not that impressive and relatively immature’ Pic: Fergal Phillips

Jessica Grehan has stage four lung cancer. She has been asking Minister for Health Simon Harris for access to immunotherapy drugs since the middle of 2016.

So far, Harris has refused to budge. “He said he was unable to influence the HSE’s decision-making,” said Grehan.

One of the drugs Grehan is anxious to try is called Keytruda, ...