Fed: New breast cancer drug could still be subsidised Tambling

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-2000
Fed: New breast cancer drug could still be subsidised Tambling

The federal government says the door has not been closed on government funding for
new breast cancer drug, Herceptin.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee considered adding the new drug to the
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme at a meeting earlier this month but decided it was too
expensive.

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald says about 30 Australian women with advanced
breast cancer are paying $1,000 a week for the drug and as many as 3,000 more could benefit
from it if the government subsidises it.

Herceptin is an antibody against a growth factor protein called HER2 which is over-produced
in the cancer cells of about a third of women with breast cancer that has spread to other
parts of their body.

By suppressing the growth factor, the drug reduces the speed of the spread of the cancer.

Parliamentary Health Secretary GRANT TAMBLING says the issue is not closed but at the
moment the cost to the taxpayer of subsidising the drug is too high.

AAP RTV eg/daw/klw/hn

KEYWORD: BREAST (CANBERRA)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.