{"id":665737,"date":"2026-11-03T15:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T15:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/665737\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T15:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T15:38:11","slug":"vat-barrier-to-cancer-drug-for-barrow-man-to-be-removed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/665737\/","title":{"rendered":"VAT barrier to cancer drug for Barrow man to be removed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Ian Worrall, from Barrow, was diagnosed with a cancer called cholangiocarcinoma in January 2024, with drug regorafenib being considered as a treatment option<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n The implementation of VAT on donations of medicines saw the pharmaceutical company providing it withdraw from the compassionate-use programme in a case that was brought to Parliament by MP Michelle Scrogham last month<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed that a ‘new approach’ was being adopted, which has since been ratified in the latest Budget.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mrs Scrogham said: “After I raised Ian Worrall\u2019s case with the Prime Minister, I\u2019m pleased that the Government has been good to their word and announced in the Budget that they will remove VAT as a barrier for free-of-charge donations of innovative medicines.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe VAT issue had led pharmaceutical company Bayer to withdraw from the compassionate use scheme and this has been preventing Ian from accessing the life-extending treatment he needs.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Ian, pictured with wife Emma, was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in 2024 (Image: Submitted)\n<\/p>\n

\n Because cholangiocarcinoma affects a relatively small number of people, treatment options can become limited quickly.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ian and wife Emma shared their thanks for Mrs Scrogham’s efforts in bringing the issue to Prime Minister’s Questions.\n<\/p>\n

\n The couple previously launched a petition and were the subject of an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to the Chancellor’s team and HMRC officials will be reaching out to Bayer to ensure they now have the information they need,” Mrs Scrogham added.\n<\/p>\n

\n “I have also continued to speak directly with Bayer representatives, and I am now asking that they provide an update as to whether they will be rejoining the scheme and how long that might take.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cUltimately this is now Bayer\u2019s decision, the ball is very much in their court, but for Ian’s sake I am hoping they will now re-join the scheme as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ian Worrall, from Barrow, was diagnosed with a cancer called cholangiocarcinoma in January 2024, with drug regorafenib being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[163,85,46,482],"class_list":["post-665737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}