Please tell NICE your views on this wonderful new therapy to help clear mucus

Dear lovely people

Inhaled mannitol (brand name Bronchitol) is a new inhaled powder therapy which liquefies thick, sticky mucus in the lungs, enabling it to be easily coughed up. This can greatly benefit people with congestive lung problems eg cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. I have asthma+bronch and have been using it for 2 years (because I took part in one of the trials). During that time I haven't had a single chest infection and my FEV1 has jumped from 66% to 80%. It has literally transformed my life.

But NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) has said it will not recommend it on the NHS, for reasons of cost!

You can help reverse this, but we must take action before 3 July! The advantages of mannitol are:

a) it can significantly improve lung function

b) it reduces chest infections (and thereby the need for antibiotic prescriptions and hospital admissions for IV antibiotics)

c) it is quick and easy to use and reduces the burden of treatment for patients who already struggle to cope with chest physio and numerous medications

d) the extra cost is about £5,000 pa, but as every 2-week stay in hospital costs the NHS £3,000, not to mention GP visits etc, the cost is actually very small.

Please take 5 mins to submit your views to NICE (please note all you need do is fill in the Identify Yourself section and put a few short sentences in section 1, you don't have to fill in all the sections.) Any problems just pm me

guidance.nice.org.uk/TA/Wav...

I have also set up a petition which you can sign at

avaaz.org/en/petition/Persu...

Please help! Thank you,

love, polly x

[Hidden]

Hi Polly, I've signed it, my partner has thick sticky mucous in her lungs at the moment as saline nebs are not cutting it.