A cancer sufferer who has been told he has just five years left to live is fighting for two potentially lifesaving drugs to be made available on the NHS.

Jed Alexander, 31, from Hampton Wick, is suffering from a treatment-resistant leukaemia but the drugs Dasatinib or Nilotinib could increase his life expectancy by decades.

Without them he could be dead in just five years.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is to meet next Wednesday to decide if the two drugs - both costing more than £30,000 for a year-long course - should be made available on the health service in England.

Mr Alexander is urging Nice to make the drugs - which are available in Scotland and much of Europe - available but Nice has already made a recommendation not to do so.

The trainee psychologist, who suffers from Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML), said: “This is completely contrary to current practice in Scotland - as well as in Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and the rest of the developed world - and leaves several English sufferers with no viable treatment options for this life-threatening condition.

“And yet these drugs do not just have the potential to extend CML sufferers’ lives by a matter of months, they could extend lives by decades - perhaps doubling my own life expectancy.

“I’m fighting this not just for me but for everybody who has got the disease.”

As part of his battle Mr Alexander, of Lower Teddington Road, has sent a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking for his help in lobbying Nice to change its mind. The letter has been sent on to Health Secretary Andy Burnham.

Mr Alexander, who married his partner Bhiru less than a year ago, was diagnosed with CML at the age of 28. He was put on the drug Imatinib but proved resistant to it.

There are up to 800 new cases of CML diagnosed every year in the UK and many other patients cannot take Imatinib.

Mr Alexander’s fight has been backed by Twickenham MP Vince Cable, who has taken the issue up with Nice.

Dr Cable said: “It seems to me that this is a matter both of common humanity and common sense.

“It seems sensible and humane that the small number of people who contact this rare form of leukaemia should be given access to the drugs.”

“Mr Alexander is a very brave man.”

However Professor Peter Littlejohns, clinical and public health director at Nice, said: “Although there is some evidence to suggest that Dasatinib and Nilotinib could be considered clinically effective in cases of CML where treatment with Imatinib has not worked, the quality of that evidence was extremely poor.

“This, coupled with the very high cost of the drugs, meant that the independent appraisal committee could not recommend these drugs as an appropriate use of NHS resources.”