The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), UK, says Herceptin should be prescribed to all early stage breast cancer patients in England and Wales, in its draft guidance. NICE is the National Health Service (NHS) watchdog. The final guidance will be published in July, 2006.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium published its own guidance recommending that patients receive Herceptin. This means Scottish doctors can decide for themselves whether their patients receive Herceptin within their universal health cover system (free of charge). In England and Wales patients will have to wait till July, when the final guidance is published.

If, as is expected, the final guidance recommends that all early stage breast cancer patients can receive Herceptin, Primary Care Trusts will be expected to set up a system within three months so that patients can receive treatment. If they don’t they could face prosecution.

For those who are not familiar with the NHS system in England and Wales Basically, this means that all women will get treatment free – probably in England and Wales, and most definitely in Scotland. When the NHS watchdog, NICE, recommends something, it means approving a treatment to be provided by the NHS, which is free.

Herceptin targets HER2. Breast tumors need HER2 to grow and thrive. Herceptin starves the tumor of HER2.

Patients with advanced breast cancer already receive Herceptin on the NHS. Advanced breast cancer generally means the cancer has spread beyond the breast(s). The new recommendation says patients with early stage breast cancer should also receive Herceptin on the NHS.

One year’s Herceptin treatment costs the NHS about ?20,000 per patient.

80.6% of early stage breast cancer patients who receive Herceptin, plus surgery and chemotherapy/radiotherapy remain disease free after three years. 74% of patients who receive the same therapy, but without the Herceptin, remain disease free after three years. This is according to a large study of 5,000 breast cancer patients.

Of the 41,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the UK about 8,000 are HER2 positive – that is, candidates for Herceptin treatment. Most of them are diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.

If a patient has heart problems she should not receive Herceptin.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today