A highly respected cancer expert has claimed that the sick Lockerbie bomber was able to live to an old age despite a terminal cancer diagnosis thanks to a drug that was initially denied to Brits.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was a Libyan intelligence officer who was convicted on 270 counts of murder for taking part in the tragic Lockerbie bombings, the deadliest terrorist attack in British history.
Al-Megrahi was released from his life sentence in 2009 on compassionate grounds after he was terminally diagnosed with prostate cancer.
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While he was initially being given three to six months to live following his diagnosis, he ended up living for an extra three years as a free man, dying at the age of 60 in 2012.
A new book written by Professor Karol Sikora, one of the physicians who assessed al-Megrahi's life expectancy, has claimed that he was able to survive for so long because he was taking a drug called abiraterone.
The drug, which was sold under the name Zytiga, was a new treatment for prostate cancer that despite being developed in the UK, was not seen as cost-effective enough for the NHS to use for years.
However, the drug was approved in the US, and it is understood that al-Megrahi’s family imported the drug to Libya from the States.
Professor Sikora told the Telegraph that the drug, which wouldn’t be approved for use in Britain for another five months, helped extend his life massively.
“Megrahi would have died as predicted in three months,” he said.
“He wasn’t given anything - no chemo as he was a security risk if he went to the hospital and they said they couldn’t give him the drug in prison.
“Yes the Abiraterone prolonged his life and although a British drug, you couldn’t get it on the NHS until five years later.”
He added that he learned a dark lesson from the episode.
“The sad episode of the Lockerbie Bomber has taught me to be even more cautious than before – unusually good things can happen to cancer patients,” he said.
“In an age of molecular reductionism with magic bullets and personalised medicine with smart drugs, there are many things we still don’t understand. We remove hope at our peril.”
The horrifying bombing, which took place in December 1988, saw a Pan Am flight take off from Heathrow and explode 30 minutes later as it crossed into Scotland.
The explosion, triggered by a bomb carried on to the plane in a suitcase, killed all 243 passengers and 16 crew.
Massive pieces of the aircraft fell onto the village of Lockerbie killing 11 residents.
Most of the fatalities were American, with 190 victims, while 43 British citizens were killed.
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