Flowers are placed in a coffin in Aotea Square during a 2006 protest against Pharmac's decision not to fund Herceptin. File photo / Glenn Jeffrey
Government drug-buying agency Pharmac announced today it would not fund 12-month courses of the breast cancer drug Herceptin.
Pharmac decided in July 2006 to back just the nine-week course of the drug, used to combat the aggressive HER2 positive form of breast cancer, at an estimated cost to
district health boards of about $6 million a year.
But the High Court this year ordered Pharmac to consult on whether it should extend treatment to 12 months - standard in more than 30 countries - following a legal challenge by eight breast cancer patients, labelled the "Herceptin Heroines".
The court found insufficient consultation had been undertaken into the possible benefits of the longer course and instructed Pharmac to start over again.
Pharmac sought public reaction and received over 300 responses before submissions closed on June 9.
To fund the 12-month course would cost around $25 million a year.
Pharmac chief executive Matthew Brougham said a fresh review of the science and other information had failed to convince the agency that 12-month treatments offered any additional benefits over the nine-week treatment.
"As with all its decisions, Pharmac remains open to re-evaluating its position if new evidence emerges," he said.
"This could include results from the SOLD study, an international Herceptin clinical trial which Pharmac is helping to fund, or results from other clinical trials."
Mr Brougham said Pharmac gave careful consideration to an updated commercial offer from Herceptin manufacturers Roche.
"This decision, however, was not driven by the price of the 12-month treatments.
"It was based on a lack of confidence that the expenditure - whatever the exact level - would deliver any additional health gains."
- NZPA
