Gateshead family in urgent race to get girl cancer drug

The family of a young girl with cancer say they face a race against time to get her potentially life-saving care abroad.

Annabel Ashmore, from Gateshead, needs to start a two-year drug treatment by November to reduce the risk of her aggressive stage four high-risk neuroblastoma (HRN) returning, her parents said.

The medication is awaiting approval by the NHS for use in the UK so the five-year-old’s parents, Mike and Libby Ashmore, are raising £105,000 to access it in the USA.

Her case was raised in Parliament by her local MP, prompting the prime minister to say the government would ensure the licencing process would be “completed as quickly as possible”.

Annabel was given a 50% chance of survival when she was diagnosed with the cancer at the age of four and underwent a gruelling treatment regime including surgery, high-dose chemotherapy, proton beam radiotherapy, immunotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

Ms Ashmore said Annabel had been “extraordinary” throughout her treatment, adding: “She’s always done it with a smile on her face.

“All parents think their child’s remarkable, but since she’s been doing this, we’ve really realised she’s a really special girl.”

Annabel is now cancer-free with survival odds of 75%, but relapses of HRN have a “high mortality rate”, Ms Ashmore said.

“With this particular cancer, the risk of relapses is always there and it’s very hard to feel happy and safe,” she said.

The drug difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) was available in Australia and the USA, and had been “proven to reduce relapse and increase survival rates to 85%”, she added.

But DFMO needs to be administered within three months of the patient completing immunotherapy, which means Annabel needs it by November at the latest.

“It’s time critical and the NHS approval process won’t happen quick enough for [Annabel],” Ms Ashmore said.

Addressing the House of Commons, Mark Ferguson, Labour MP for Gateshead Central and Whickham, said Annabel “urgently needed” DFMO and he asked if Sir Keir Starmer would meet with her parents.

The prime minister praised Annabel’s “incredible bravery” and said the health secretary would set up a meeting with the family.

He said the manufacturers of DFMO had applied for a UK licence through Project Orbis which “allows the rapid review and approval of new cancer treatments”.

Sir Keir said: “We’ll ensure that that process is completed as quickly as possible. And I will also ensure the health minister does set up the meeting that he’s asked for.”