British woman wins Herceptin drug case

LONDON - A British woman with early-stage breast cancer won a legal appeal yesterday to force her local health authority to pay for the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin.

"I feel like I've won the lottery," said Ann Marie Rogers, 54, who had called the initial decision by Swindon Primary Care Trust (PCT) not to give her the costly medication "a death sentence".

The decision at London's Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court ruling that said the PCT in Wiltshire did not have to pay for the drug, made by Switzerland's Roche and which costs about £20,000 ($57,055.34) a year.

Judge Anthony Clarke said the verdict that the PCT's policy "was irrational and therefore unlawful".

"I could not have asked for a better verdict," Rogers said. "I did this for all women battling this dreadful disease. I believe everyone prescribed this treatment by their doctor should be given the same healthcare wherever they live.

"I can now look towards the future and have more confidence that I will win this battle against breast cancer."

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 is only licensed for use in women with 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 say they will only fund treatment in exceptional cases.

Rogers' lawyers said their client met all the necessary criteria for a patient to receive the drug and that her doctor had said she should be given it as it represented her best chance of survival.

In New Zealand the Cancer Society recently backed the case for women with early stage breast cancer having access to Herceptin.

Medsafe made a regulatory decision to provisionally approve the use of Herceptin in early stage breast cancer.

New Zealand is the first country to formally register Herceptin for use in early-stage breast cancer, but Pharmac and district health boards cannot guarantee it will be subsidised.

The verdict in Britain will be significant for the state-funded National Health Service.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said the case showed the importance of getting faster decisions from Britain's drugs watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which assesses new drugs.

"What we have to do with all these new drugs that are coming on is make sure that they are used in the way that is going to be best for patients but also give best value for money," Hewitt told Sky News.

- REUTERS