• A life-extending drug will be funded for around 380 patients with advanced bowel cancer from today. 
• Cetuximab will be funded for patients with left-sided RAS wild-type and BRAF wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer. 
• Auckland mother Adrienne Smithson, one of many patients who pushed for the drug to be funded, died three weeks ago. 

An Auckland mother who fought for access to a life-extending cancer drug has died just weeks before the medication is to be funded in New Zealand. 

Adrienne Smithson, from Hillcrest on Auckland’s North Shore, was diagnosed with stage-four colorectal cancer around 15 months ago. 

Smithson’s family crowdfunded $100,000 to pay for the unfunded drug cetuximab, and she was among a group of patients who campaigned for the medication to be made available to more bowel cancer patients. 

As of today, the drug will be funded by Pharmac for patients with a specific type of advanced bowel cancer. Nearly 400 people are expected to qualify. 

Smithson, who was 45 years old, did not survive to witness the funding milestone. Her family said after a period of stability, her health began to go downhill three months ago. A scan found the cancer had spread to her lungs and her spine, leading to increasing pain and limited mobility. She died at Harbour Hospice on October 10. 

“It’s been devastating,” her husband James Maltby told the Herald. “Adrienne and I were together for 25 years, since we were really young. So it’s been a very difficult period for me, to see her suffering like that and then eventually passing on.” They had two daughters, aged 12 and 14. 

Maltby said her combined treatments, which also included another unfunded drug called Avastin, were believed to have extended her life by around eight months. 

In that time, Smithson was able to travel and tick some adventures off her wish list. She skydived from a height of 5000m at Pakari, and took family trips to Matapōuri, Kai Iwi Lakes, the Bay of Islands and Fiji. She managed both her daughters’ netball teams. 

In June, she felt well enough to return to work for two days a week as a relief teacher at Kauri Park School in Beach Haven. 

“She knew her prognosis was terminal but she was trying to do as much as she could to go as long as possible,” Maltby said. 

Adrienne Smithson, pictured with her husband James and daughters Dominique and Casey. Smithson died on October 10, around 15 months after she was first diagnosed with colorectal cancer. 

In her last months, Smithson also kept advocating for cetuximab to be publicly funded. The medication is widely available overseas, and Pharmac had previously not funded a new bowel cancer drug in 20 years. One of a growing number of people aged below 50 diagnosed with bowel cancer, Smithson also supported campaigns for lowering the cancer screening age in New Zealand. 

Cetuximab was on a list of 13 medications the National Party promised to fund in its election campaign. Patients and advocacy groups were deeply disappointed when those medications were not funded in the May Budget, but the Government announced a $600 million boost to Pharmac in July which ensured it would be made available to some patients. 

“I think that will be part of Adrienne’s legacy, that she was part of getting this funded,” Maltby said. 

Pharmac expects around 380 patients with RAS wild-type and BRAF wild-type colorectal cancer to benefit from the medication in the first year of funding. Of that total, 140 people will not have received any treatment for cancer, and another 240 people will have received one or more previous treatments. Another 60 patients who have been privately funding cetuximab could potentially transition into the publicly funded system. 

The cancer treatment targets certain proteins to prevent the growth and spread of cancer cells and is administered in combination with chemotherapy. 

Auckland-based oncologist Dr Ben Lawrence said gene tests would be carried out on patients to identify whether they would benefit from the targeted therapy. That helped pick out people who could benefit from the drug and prevented people who would not benefit from receiving it unnecessarily. 

Lawrence said he expected all eligible patients to get access to the medication within a few weeks. 

Bowel Cancer NZ chief executive Peter Huskinson said he hoped the medication would be extended to a larger group of patients. 

Bowel Cancer New Zealand chief executive Peter Huskinson said Pharmac’s funding of cetuximab was a “vital step forward”, but his organisation hoped the drug would be extended to patients with other forms of bowel cancer. He also noted another unfunded drug, Avastin, had been on Pharmac’s waiting list for 14 years. 

He said many patients fought courageously for the drug to be accessible, even though they knew it might be too late for them. 

“Patients and their families have shown incredible resilience, advocating for a treatment they believe can change lives. We honour the memory of those who fought bravely and have since lost their lives.” 

Isaac Davison is an Auckland-based reporter who covers health issues. He joined the Herald in 2008 and has previously covered the environment, politics, and social issues.