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| Wednesday, 30 November 2005 10:46 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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European academics have warned health authorities to consider the budgetary implications of providing women with the breast cancer drug Herceptin because of its high cost.
Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, has said that all women with early stage breast cancer must have access to the drug, despite it currently being licensed for advanced breast cancer only.
However, a paper in the Annals of Oncology medical journal has warned that the financial implications of providing the drug could mean resources have to be moved from other areas.
Belgian economist Mattais Neyt, of Ghent University, found that treating all advanced breast cancer patients in his country with Herceptin – around 750 a year – would cost around £17.5 million. That amount would be doubled if the drug were to be extended to all women with early stage breast cancer.
In Britain, with as many as 5,000 women per year diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, the annual bill could reach £107 million.
"This means countries should not rush into prescribing it before working out the implications very carefully and being prepared to re-allocate resources, get rid of other treatments that are no longer cost-effective and drive a hard bargain over the price of the drug," he writes.
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