Man wins right to Herceptin for breast cancer

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A 37-year-old man with breast cancer was told on Monday his local NHS trust will fund treatment with the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin, a move that will add to the debate about its use and funding.

Maidstone Weald Primary Care Trust said it had agreed to fund the treatment after considering Stuart Weaver’s clinical needs and advice from his medical consultants.

“We have just spoken with Mr Weaver and he was happy with the news,” the trust said in a statement.

Herceptin is one of a new generation of targeted therapies, which attack only cancer cells and are tolerated much better than traditional chemotherapy.

The drug, made by Switzerland’s Roche and which costs about 20,000 pounds a year, is only licensed for use in cases of advanced breast cancer, although doctors can use their discretion to prescribe it in other cases.

Research has shown Herceptin can help patients in the early stages of breast cancer but many health authorities have said they will only fund treatment in exceptional cases.

This has led to a number of legal challenges by cancer sufferers to force their local health care providers to pay for the drug.

Earlier this month European regulators recommended early use of Herceptin for sufferers with an aggressive form of the disease and in April London’s Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Ann Marie Rogers, who had taken Swindon Primary Care Trust (SPCT) to court over its decision not to give her the drug.

The Appeal Court said the decision by the health authority was “irrational and therefore unlawful”.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has told primary health trusts they should not refuse Herceptin on financial grounds alone. 

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