But if the mutated cells had started multiplying in his kidney rather than his neck he would have options and probably another five months of quality living in front of him.

Sorafenib is available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for renal cancer; without a subsidy it costs $3000 a month and is capped to 10 people across Australia.

''I've accepted I'm on the way out, but it's frustrating that there is something that could help make it easier and I can't have it,'' Mr Bondarenko said.

One of Mr Bondarenko's treating oncologists, Jeanne Tie, said it was the most absurd situation.

''It's really frustrating to see patients in your room and you know there are drugs out there, but you can't legally use them - I can't even import it from overseas because it's not registered for this condition … You could pretend this was a liver cancer and you'd get the drug,'' Dr Tie said.

The clinical research fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research said the rarity of her patient's thyroid cancer worked against him.

''Overseas, Sorafenib has been shown in a large trial of patients to be very beneficial to survival. That means they would have an extra five months without the cancers growing, but it's not going to cure the patient.''

Dr Tie said Bayer has set up a compassionate access program.

''But it's capped at 10 patients in the whole of Australia and that cap has been reached so everyone else has to go on a waiting list … Access programs depend on a patient's luck.''

She said the ideal scenario would be for the government to fast-track the drug's approval.