British woman wins Herceptin drug case
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A British woman with early-stage breast cancer won a legal appeal on Wednesday to force her local health authority to pay for the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin.
“I feel like I’ve won the lottery,” said Ann Marie Rogers, 54, who had called the initial decision by Swindon Primary Care Trust (PCT) not to give her the costly medication “a death sentence”.
The decision at London’s Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court ruling that said the PCT in Wiltshire did not have to pay for the drug, made by Switzerland’s Roche and which costs about 20,000 pounds ($35,000) a year.
Judge Anthony Clarke said in Wednesday’s verdict that the PCT’s policy “was irrational and therefore unlawful”.
“I could not have asked for a better verdict,” Rogers said. “I did this for all women battling this dreadful disease. I believe everyone prescribed this treatment by their doctor should be given the same healthcare wherever they live.
“I can now look towards the future and have more confidence that I will win this battle against breast cancer.”
Herceptin is one of a new generation of targeted therapies, which attack only cancer cells and are tolerated much better than traditional chemotherapy.
The drug is only licensed for use in women with advanced breast cancer, although doctors can use their discretion to prescribe it in other cases.
Research has shown Herceptin can help patients in the early stages of breast cancer but many health authorities say they will only fund treatment in exceptional cases.
Rogers’ lawyers said their client met all the necessary criteria for a patient to receive the drug and that her doctor had said she should be given it as it represented her best chance of survival.
RULING WON’T “OPEN FLOODGATES”
Wednesday’s ruling was limited to Rogers’ case and will not “open the floodgates” to all those suffering from breast cancer but only those who satisfied the clinical criteria for the drug, her lawyer Yogi Amin added.
Swindon PCT said it would now re-examine its policy on providing Herceptin.
“The order of the court is for us to revisit our policies and re-make our decision in light of the revisited policies,” the PCT’s chief executive Jan Stubbings told reporters.
“We haven’t been ordered to fund Herceptin for anybody.”
But she said the verdict would be significant for the state-funded National Health Service.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said the case showed the importance of getting faster decisions from Britain’s drugs watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which assesses new drugs.
“What we have to do with all these new drugs that are coming on is make sure that they are used in the way that is going to be best for patients but also give best value for money,” Hewitt told Sky News.
“That is done by NICE but it was taking too long and we have speeded up that process.”
However, Conservative health spokesman Andrew Lansley said the case showed patients still suffered from a “postcode lottery” where some people missed out on treatment simply because of where they lived.
“Last October, Patricia Hewitt told primary care trusts that they should not refuse Herceptin on financial grounds alone so what we have ended up with is arbitrary social factors being taken into account,” he told Sky News.
“This just meant in some parts of the country Herceptin would be available, in others, not.”
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