Cancer drug hailed but early-stage patients left out

Women with advanced breast cancer can now take advantage of a new drug to help fight the disease, but those with early breast cancer still have limited options.

The Government drug-buying agency Pharmac is to subsidise the drug letrozole (marketed as Femara) for post-menopausal women with advanced breast cancer.

An estimated 600 women a year would be eligible to receive the drug, said Pharmac medical director Peter Moodie.

Femara is one of a new class of hormonal medicines called aromatase inhibitors.

Overseas studies have shown these medicines are more effective and have fewer side-effects for women with breast cancer than traditional treatments.

The Breast Cancer Foundation welcomed the news of funding for Femara but said calls for Pharmac to subsidise aromatase inhibitors for women with early breast cancer had gone unanswered.

"We do not have anything for early breast cancer and we have been asking Pharmac to fund that for two years now," said the foundation's medical chairwoman, breast surgeon Belinda Scott.

Dr Scott said New Zealand was lagging behind other countries in this area.

The United States and Canada finance the drugs and Australia introduced funding last month.

New Zealand women with early breast cancer can receive finance for the traditional treatment, Tamoxifen.

But this drug can produce severe side-effects and women with a history of conditions such as blood clots in the leg and polyps in the uterus cannot take it.

Some who switch to an aromatase inhibitor called Arimidex see the side-effects disappear.

The catch is they have to pay $120 a month.

Whangaparaoa woman Jane Bissell, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2001 but is now in remission, pays for Arimidex after suffering terrible headaches and fatigue while on Tamoxifen.

She welcomed the news about funding for Femara, but said the Government needed to help women like herself who used Arimidex to stop their cancer returning.

"It's really important to have these preventive drugs available," she said.

Pharmac's Dr Moodie said the agency was continuing to look at emerging evidence on the use of aromatase inhibitors for women with early breast cancer.

However, results of a five-year clinical trial released last month show Arimidex to be highly successful in stopping recurrence of the disease.

The trial, following 9366 women, showed Arimidex reduced the chances of breast cancer by a further 26 per cent - above the 50 per cent reduction offered by Tamoxifen.

The trial, financed by AstraZeneca which produces Arimidex, found 236 women died of breast cancer while taking Arimidex.

This compares with 265 deaths among women taking Tamoxifen.

During that time, the cancer returned 402 times in women taking Arimidex and 498 times in those taking Tamoxifen.