UK cancer sufferer to go to court to get Herceptin

LONDON (Reuters) – A British woman suffering from breast
cancer intends to go to the High Court to force her health
authority to prescribe Herceptin, a drug she believes could
prolong her life.

Elaine Barber’s local health authority, North Stoke Primary
Care Trust, has said it can’t afford to prescribe the drug.

“We are looking at going to the High Court next week,
Monday or Tuesday,” said a representative from Barber’s
lawyers.

“It will be the first time a Herceptin case has gone to the
High Court and if the case is successful it will open the door
to other women,” the spokesman for solicitors Irwin Mitchell
told Reuters.

Barber, 41, told BBC television: “I need this drug to
survive. There are people who have been on it for years. They
are living proof it works.”

Last month the government said women diagnosed with early
stage breast cancer should be tested to see if they are
suitable for Herceptin, made by Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG.

The Department of Health said the move to test women could
save 1,000 lives a year.

Recent research shows Herceptin can help patients with
early stage breast cancer, but the drug is currently only
licensed for use in women with advanced breast cancer, although
doctors can use their discretion in exceptional cases.

Last month former nurse Barbara Clark won a legal battle to
be given the drug after she threatened to use the Human Rights
Act to force her doctors to prescribe the drug.