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Victory for Woman in Cancer Fight; Freedom to Prescribe Drug

Posted on: Friday, 7 October 2005, 06:00 CDT

A NURSE who battled breast cancer is celebrating an important victory in her campaign to ensure fellow sufferers have access to a life-saving drug.

Women with early stage breast cancer will now be tested to see if they are suitable to use Herceptin.

Barbara Clark, 49, fought a vigorous campaign to persuade her local authority to prescribe her the drug, which could save 1,000 women every year.

She had said this summer she was going to have to sell her house in Bridgwater, Somerset, to pay for her treatment.

She said: "This is absolutely fantastic news, I think it's marvellous as this will mean the drug will be fast-tracked and it will offer a lifeline to many women suffering with breast cancer.

"But the drug is already widely available to women throughout Europe in countries like Ireland without licence.

"It's unacceptable that Herceptin is not considered safe here in this country when it's available throughout the rest of the world. "Although today's decision is to be welcomed, what about the women in between?

"The women diagnosed before the Government's decision today, there will be about 1,000 of them who will die before the drug is made available.

"I was lucky, I had exceptional circumstances and my primary care trust were very supportive.

"But I'm just a nobody from nowhere. It seems as though the decision today has only arisen due to the publicity from my case this week."

Herceptin is currently only licensed for use in advanced breast cancer, although doctors can use discretion to prescribe it in other exceptional cases.

An application for a licence for its use in early breast cancer is expected to be submitted by maker Roche next February.

UK health secretary Patricia Hewitt said that all women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer would be tested for suitability for treatment with Herceptin.

This means that once the drug receives its licence, it will be fast-tracked for use throughout the NHS.

The DoH said that of the 35,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in England each year, 20,000 would be suitable for testing for HER2 - a specific receptor on the surface of the cancer cells whose presence means the patient may benefit from Herceptin.

From this group of 20,000, about 5,000 women may benefit from the drug

Source: Daily Post; Liverpool

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