As follows is the argument for free Herceptin for all women for the first 12 months of treatment as presented by Jackie Blue, Associate Health Spokesperson for National, former president of the Australasian Society of Breast Physicians, a current member of the Medical Advisory Committee for the Breast Cancer Research Trust, a doctor, a wife and a mother of two teenagers.
What are the advantages of a 12 month course of Herceptin, administered after chemotherapy treatment, as opposed to the Pharmac funded 9 week course of Herceptin, administered concurrent with chemotherapy?
A 12 month course of Herceptin can be administered both concurrently and sequentially. Both treatment regimes are backed up by data from large clinical trials. Oncologists should be given the choice to prescribe the most appropriate regime for their patients.
Most importantly the 12 month course of Herceptin is backed by solid survival data while 9 weeks does not. Women who take the 12 months course will have the confidence that they are taking a regime that is the international standard of care used in 33 countries that has proven survival data. Medsafe refused to register the 9 week regime because of insufficient clinical data.
The benefit of 9 weeks of Herceptin is uncertain. Assuming the SOLD trial gets off the ground it will be 7 years before the results are available. The very serious risk is that 9 weeks is not as effective as 12 months and potentially 2000 women would have been subject to an inferior regime.
Pharmac says its decision to not fund 12 months courses of Herceptin is not based on financial reasons – do you accept that?
No, not at all. Pharmac has said that it’s decision was based on the science not the cost but it has ignored the science and the advice of cancer experts.
Do you accept Pharmac’s argument that if Herceptin is funded for cancer patients, people suffering from other diseases will miss out?
Not at all – John Key has set aside money. There is no question of cutting health services or other patient groups missing out.
National has promised to fund 12 month courses of Herceptin – how will that be done? Pharmac is an independent body – will it be directed to funnel funds towards Herceptin or will a separate fund be established by National?
Herceptin could be funded independent of Pharmac as has happened with the recent cervical cancer vaccine.
Will National increase Pharmac’s budget?
Yes – we campaigned on doing this in 2005 and we will be doing so in 2008
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