Breast cancer drug move gives hope to UK patients
|
|
Women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer are to be tested to see if they are suitable for treatment with the drug Herceptin, made by Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG, Britain said on Wednesday.
The move could mean that the lives of 1,000 women a year in England could be saved - the same number saved by the national breast screening program, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
Recent research has shown Herceptin can help patients with early stage breast cancer and campaigners have been fighting for it to be widely available on the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
The drug is currently only licensed for use in women with advanced breast cancer, although doctors can use their discretion to prescribe it in exceptional other cases.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said that from Wednesday all women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer would be tested for suitability for treatment with Herceptin.
But women who have been diagnosed before Wednesday will not automatically be tested for the HER-2 receptor, which indicates whether a patient may benefit from Herceptin.
Once the drug is licensed for use in early stage breast cancer it will be fast-tracked for use throughout the state-funded NHS.
Roche expects to file a European application for early use of Herceptin in February next year.
“Herceptin has the potential to save many women’s lives and I want to see it in widespread use on the NHS,” Hewitt said.
Hewitt has already ordered Britain’s drugs watchdog,the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to fast track its assessment of the wider use of the drug.
Of the 35,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in England each year, 20,000 would be suitable for testing, the DOH said. Some 5,000 may benefit from taking Herceptin.
Earlier this week, former nurse Barbara Clark won a legal battle to be given Herceptin.
Clark had threatened to use the Human Rights Act to force her doctors to prescribe the drug after she had been told she could not have the treatment because her cancer was not at an advanced stage.
Campaigners said they were concerned that the drug was not expected to be licensed until next year.
“Patients need to understand that the drug is not expected to be licensed until July 2006 at the earliest,,” said Professor John Toy, medical director of Cancer Research UK. “A process to make the drug available as quickly as possible after licensing is especially important given this delay.”
Print Version
Tell-a-Friend comments powered by Disqus
