Cancer Council welcomes Herceptin listing

The Cancer Council Australia today congratulated the Australian Government for adopting the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee’s recommendations to subsidise the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab) for women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

The Cancer Council Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Professor Ian Olver, said the decision to list Herceptin on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme was good news for the 2000 Australian women diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer each year.”Studies show that combining standard chemotherapy with Herceptin reduces disease recurrence in women with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer by 46 per cent, saving thousands of lives,” Professor Olver said.”PBS subsidisation will make the demonstrated benefits of Herceptin much more affordable for those 2000 Australian women currently living with HER2-positive breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of cancer.”The Cancer Council Australia also welcomes the Government’s decision not to restrict eligibility to patients with tumours larger than 20mm, which will help ensure that more women with the potential to benefit from Herceptin will be able to access the drug through the PBS.”Professor Olver said systemic therapy, which included chemotherapy and the use of other pharmaceuticals, was an integral part of treating cancer patients and had contributed to significant improvements in cancer survival rates over the past two decades.”Herceptin represents one of the most important breakthroughs in systemic therapy for cancer in recent years,” he said.”The Government should be congratulated for making Herceptin available through the PBS. This decision shows how science, industry and government can work together to reduce the impact of cancer, which claims more Australian lives than any other cause.”(Source: The Cancer Council Australia)Government media releasehttp://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/B98C4A61790928FCCA2571D2001603DF/$File/abb120.pdfGovernment fact sheethttp://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/3AB0A1015C295D08CA2571AB001BC2BA/$File/dept003.pdf