Umhlanga cancer patient Ina Requilet finally has access to potentially life-saving medication after the health regulator approved a treatment not yet registered in South Africa.
Ina Requilet (53) who is fighting a disease that could kill her before she turns 55, has endured an exhausting battle with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) after it twice rejected her pleas for access to the medication.
Countless letters and dozens of unanswered phone calls formed part of her and her family’s desperate appeal to obtain the unregistered cancer growth-blocking medication that is her last hope for survival.
News24 reports that after a 10-week battle with SAHPRA to authorise the release of the therapy to fight her aggressive mutation of colorectal cancer, approval has been granted.
The campaign saw Requilet and her daughter, Carmen, taking their battle online, where hundreds of thousands of social media users viewed her videos and almost 5 000 people signed their petition.
The medication, Encorafenib, has been tested and proven – in phase three studies – to be superior in the objective response rate as well as overall and disease-free survival when used in combination with registered drug Erbitux.
Requilet’s oncologist, Dr Lucille Heslop, said targeting this mutation is more effective than chemotherapy.
Pfizer, which manufactures and markets Encorafenib, had agreed to freely provide the drug to Requilet on an expanded access programme, reserved for those with a serious or life-threatening disease who have no viable treatment options available.
However, it required a Section 21 number from SAHPRA for it to clear customs – but two applications from Heslop were rejected.
SAHPRA’s spokesperson, Madimetja Mashishi, said Requilet’s application was approved after Pfizer provided the supporting paperwork for the authorisation. In addition, another five applications were also approved.
Now, once a week, Requilet is put on a drip and swallows the four tablets for which she fought so hard.
Although the treatment leaves her with mouth sores, a kidney infection, body aches and fatigue, she believes it is worth it.
“For more than two months, the cancer was growing while I sat and waited for positive feedback that never came. Just a few weeks ago, I was planning my own funeral, putting my life into boxes, writing letters saying goodbye to my children,” she added.
After she was diagnosed in March, she had undergone 12 sessions of chemotherapy, lasting 48 hours, and radiation treatment, but the cancer continued to spread. Her last scan showed it had already reached her liver and spine.
She is so convinced she will beat this disease that she has booked to hike the 42km Otter Trail in the Garden Route next year.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
SAHPRA rejects woman’s bid for cancer drug not yet registered in SA
More younger people being diagnosed with colorectal cancer
Antibiotic use linked to increased risk of colon cancer — Swedish Colorectal Cancer Registry