for Shannon

Hi Shannon,

When doing research for my partner, Rachel, to try to get her herceptin off-label I discovered that there are quite a few women out there who convinced their oncologists to do it. They tend to me oncologists at smaller, community-based practices and not folks at big research hospitals. But I heard of people in Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio and other places...So post your question all over (bcsupport.org, for instance) and maybe you can get some concrete info...

I also hear that more than a few insurance companies are simply covering herceptin costs once oncs. prescribe it for node-positive women. And genetech, the company that makes it, has a generous patient assistance program (as long as your household income is below 75,000 dollars a year) to help women who get turned down by their insurance companies. Email me (melnick@babson.edu) if you have other questions...
Best,
Jeff