Australia Herceptin decision leaves NZ behind, cancer groups say

Herceptin costs about $60,000 a year per patient.

Australia's decision yesterday to fund the use of the breast cancer drug Herceptin puts New Zealand in danger of being left behind, say cancer groups.

Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott announced that the cabinet had agreed to subsidise Herceptin for early-stage breast cancer patients there from October 1.

The drug is subsidised in New Zealand for late stage Her2 breast cancer and may extend life by eight or nine months, but it is not subsidised for women in the early stages.

For these women, Herceptin is intended to prevent a recurrence of the disease, not just delay relapse.

The drug, manufactured by Roche, costs about $60,000 a year per patient.

Breast cancer advocacy groups have been campaigning for months to get Herceptin approved for subsidy by government drug-funding agency Pharmac.

Last month, Pharmac decided against recommending the subsidy, saying the available clinical data was not convincing enough and did not justify the huge expense involved.

Breast cancer support groups were outraged at the decision, saying it would lead to unnecessary deaths of New Zealand women.

Ms Burgess said the quick decision made by Australia showed the strength of evidence supporting the drug.

"We did expect a decision recommending Herceptin, but it is just really nice to see it being put in place so rapidly," Ms Burgess said.

"I think that it is wonderful for those women in Australia that are affected with this herceptin-related breast cancer.

"It would be fantastic to see this come across to us. We are a little bit behind in many things and now we are behind also in this."

Provided

Herceptin was already being provided in early breast cancer care in Ireland, France, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Slovenia.

The British equivalent of Pharmac, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), has also made a positive recommendation to its board on Herceptin funding, and approval was expected in the near future, Ms Burgess said.

National Party associate health spokeswoman Jackie Blue, who is also a breast physician, said it was disappointing to see New Zealand lagging behind.

The gap between the Australia's and New Zealand's mortality rates would continue to grow unless Herceptin was subsidised here soon, she told National Radio.

"Australia's mortality rate is 30 per cent less than New Zealand and I think the fact that they've come to the party now to fund Herceptin means that gap will widen.

"I'm sure their mortality rate will continue to improve and ours will, without Herceptin funding, will almost certainly continue to decline."

"We're confident that New Zealand will do the right thing, that Pharmac will recommend funding, and that the Government will see the value of it as well."

However, Pharmac will not be put under pressure by decisions made in other countries.

"The situation is that our advisory committee will recommend to the Pharmac board and as soon as that recommendation is made, the board will make a decision following that," said medical director Peter Moodie.

Herceptin is the trade name for Trasuzumab, an antibody designed to attack tumours with an over-productive Her2 gene which is associated with aggressive cancers.

Pharmac's clinical advisory committee has, since making its original decision, studied the results of the 23-month international drug company-funded trial -- known as Hera -- involving more than 5000 women, as well as extra information from Roche.

A decision is expected in the next few weeks.

Data from the trial showed that using Herceptin as an additional therapy in early stage Her2 positive breast cancer reduced the risk of death by more than 33 per cent, said Breast Cancer Advocacy Coalition (BCAC) spokeswoman Libby Burgess.

- NZPA