British woman to get cancer drug after U-turn

A British health authority on Wednesday reversed its decision not to give a Breast cancer sufferer the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin after its chief executive met the mother of four.

Elaine Barber's local health authority, North Stoke Primary Care Trust, had said it couldn't afford to prescribe the drug.

Lawyers for Barber, 41, had been planning to take her case to the High Court and late on Tuesday Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said the decision not to prescribe Herceptin, made by Switzerland's Roche AG , conflicted with decisions made by some other health authorities.

"We reconsidered after looking more in-depth into her personal circumstances," said chief executive of North Stoke Primary Care Trust Mike Ridley.

"It was decided to give her the drug because of her exceptional circumstances."

Barber said in a statement: "I am absolutely over the moon. I hope now that the very many women like me who just want to be given the chance to live will also be given funding.

"I can't believe that I have been put through all this just so the health authority can balance the books. Human life can not and should not be measured in pounds."

Herceptin treatments can cost up to 20,000 pounds a year and not all medical opinion believes it is effective in all cases.

Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal the Lancet told BBC news the jury was still out on Herceptin.

"It is too early to make a claim like that (that Herceptin is a cure for cancer)," he said.

Last month the government said women diagnosed with early stage Breast cancer should be tested to see if they are suitable for Herceptin.

The Department of Health said the move to test women could save 1,000 lives a year.

Recent research shows Herceptin can help patients with early stage Breast cancer, but the drug is currently only licensed for use by women with advanced Breast cancer, although doctors can use their discretion in exceptional cases.

Last month former nurse Barbara Clark won a legal battle to be given the drug after she threatened to use the Human Rights Act to force her doctors to prescribe the drug.