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Old 10-03-2015, 02:05 PM   #1
Lani
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Arrow from BBC news

Reuters Health Information
Call for Britain to Over-Ride Patents on Roche Cancer Drug
By Ben Hirschler
October 02, 2015


LONDON (Reuters) - A group of patients and campaigners has called on Britain's health minister to over-ride patents protecting Roche's expensive breast cancer drug Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine, T-DM1) to allow for the import or manufacture of cut-price copies.

The move shows the growing pricing pressure on drug companies on both sides of the Atlantic, especially in the field of cancer where new treatments can cost well over $100,000.

In a letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday, the Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 said the government should grant a compulsory licence for patents covering Kadcyla, or T-DM1, allowing other companies to supply biosimilar versions.

It said UK and European law contained provisions for this and one company had already indicated a willingness to make the drug in Britain, if a compulsory licence was issued. (http://bit.ly/1MJrG3O)

While Kadcyla can add about six months to the lives of some women with breast cancer, Britain's cost watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says its price of 90,000 pounds ($136,000) per patient is excessive.

The Swiss drugmaker contends the cost is actually less than this because the drug is typically given for shorter periods than NICE assumes.

In response to the coalition's letter, Roche said there needed to be a "pragmatic, flexible and sustainable" way of assessing cancer drugs and British patients should not be denied access to medicines routinely available elsewhere in Europe.

The British health ministry said Hunt would respond to the letter in due course.

As well as being rejected by NICE, from next month Kadcyla will also not be covered by the Cancer Drugs Fund - set up to pay for drugs turned down by NICE - prompting Roche Chief Executive Severin Schwan recently to call Britain's drug system "stupid".

Issuing a compulsory licence would put Britain on a collision course with the pharmaceuticals industry, something the government is unlikely to want given its desire to encourage life sciences.

In the past, compulsory licences have been used by some developing countries, most notably India, which stunned the industry in 2012 by overriding a valid patent on Bayer's cancer drug Nexavar.

Kadcyla is one of a number of targeted therapies that are revolutionising cancer care. Other promising new approaches include a range of drugs to help the immune system fight cancer, which also carry a high price.
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Old 10-04-2015, 09:20 AM   #2
Mtngrl
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Re: from BBC news

To augment what is said here, people should be aware that one major feature of the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement is to beef up monopoly rights for pharmaceutical companies. It's another example of the 1% (or 0.001%) imposing their will on the rest of humanity. Surely there's a balance between the common good and the understandable need to compensate drug manufacturers for the risks they take and the huge expense of developing new drugs. I personally think it should be done mostly by a public enterprise, such as the National Cancer Institute in the US (which, don't forget, discovered Taxol.)

There are other solutions, such as governments buying out patents, and national health services negotiating discounts. The Veterans Administration health service in the US already does this. Canada does this. "Free Trade" agreements like the TPP protect producers, not consumers or the general public, yet they're being rammed down our throats with vague generalizations and doomsaying.
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Amy
_____________________________
4/19/11 Diagnosed invasive ductal carcinoma in left breast; 2.3 cm tumor, 1 axillary lymph node, weakly ER+, HER2+++
4/29/11 CT scan shows suspicious lesions on liver and lungs
5/17/11 liver biopsy
5/24/11 liver met confirmed--Stage IV at diagnosis
5/27/11 Begin weekly Taxol & Herceptin for 3 months (standard of care at the time of my DX)
7/18/11 Switch to weekly Abraxane & Herceptin due to Taxol allergy
8/29/11 CT scan shows no new lesions & old lesions shrinking
9/27/11 Finish Abraxane. Start Herceptin every 3 weeks. Begin taking Arimidex
10/17/11--Brain MRI--No Brain mets
12/5/11 PET scan--Almost NED
5/15/12 PET scan shows progression-breast/chest/spine (one vertebra)
5/22/12 Stop taking Arimidex; stay on Herceptin
6/11/12 Started Tykerb and Herceptin on clinical trial (w/no chemo)
9/24/12 CT scan--No new mets. Everything stable.
3/11/13 CT Scan--two small new possible mets and odd looking area in left lung getting larger.
4/2/13--Biopsy of suspicious area in lower left lung. Mets to lung confirmed.
4/30/13 Begin Kadcyla/TDM-1
8/16/13 PET scan "mixed," with some areas of increased uptake, but also some definite improvement, so I'll stay on TDM-1/Kadcyla.
11/11/13 Finally get hormone receptor results from lung biopsy of 4/2/13. My cancer is no longer ER positive.
11/13/13 PET scan mixed results again. We're calling it "stable." Problems breathing on exertion.
2/18/14 PET scan shows a new lesion and newly active lymph node in chest, other progression. Bye bye TDM-1.
2/28/14 Begin Herceptin/Perjeta every 3 weeks.
6/8/14 PET "mixed," with no new lesions, and everything but lower lungs improving. My breathing is better.
8/18/14 PET "mixed" again. Upper lungs & one spine met stable, lower lungs less FDG avid, original tumor more avid, one lymph node in mediastinum more avid.
9/1/14 Begin taking Xeloda one week on, one week off. Will also stay on Herceptin and Perjeta every three weeks.
12/11/14 PET Scan--no new lesions, and everything looks better than it did.
3/20/15 PET Scan--no new lesions, but lower lung lesions larger and a bit more avid.
4/13/15 Increasing Xeloda dose to 10 days on, one week off.
7/1/15 Scan "mixed" again, but suggests continuing progression. Stop Xeloda. Substitute Abraxane every 3 weeks starting 7/13.
10/28/15 PET scan shows dramatic improvement everywhere. All lesions except lower lungs have resolved; lower lungs noticeably improved.
12/18/15 Last Abraxane. Continue on Herceptin and Perjeta alone beginning 1/8/16.
1/27/16 PET scan shows cancer is stable.
5/11/16 PET scan shows uptake in some areas that were resolved on the last two scans.
6/3/16 Begin Kadcyla and Tykerb combination
6/5 - 6/23 Horrible diarrhea from K&T together. Got pneumonia.
7/15/16 Begin Kadcyla only every 3 weeks.
9/6/16 Begin radiation therapy on right lung lesion that caused the pneumonia.
10/3/16 Last of 12 radiation treatments to right lung.
11/4/16 Huffing and puffing, low O2, high heart rate, on tiniest bit of exertion. Diagnosed as radiation pneumonitis. Treated with Prednisone.
11/11/16 PET scan shows significant improvement to radiated part of right lung BUT a bunch of new lung lesions, and the bone met is getting worse.
11/22/16 Begin Eribulin and Herceptin. H every 3 weeks. E two weeks on, one week off.
3/6/17 Scan shows progression in lungs. Bone met a little better.
3/23/17 Lung biopsy. Tumor sampled is ER-, PR+ (5%), HER2+++. Getting Herceptin and Perjeta as a maintenance treatment.
5/31/17 Port placement
6/1/17 Start Navelbine & Tykerb
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Old 10-04-2015, 11:18 AM   #3
Juls
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Re: from BBC news

Signed the petition for this last week. Really hope this goes through.
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Old 10-04-2015, 12:47 PM   #4
tricia keegan
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Re: from BBC news

What Juls said although I'm fairly sure it's available here in Ireland which is only fifty minutes away so really hope this petition brings some pressure to make this available there to all. If anyone would like to scroll down the page you can see the post to sign this and help those in the U.K
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Dx July '05 IDC 1.9cm Triple positive 3/9 nodes positive
A/C X 4 ..Taxol/Herceptin x 12 wks then herceptin 1 yr
Rads x 36 ..oophorectomy August '06
Currently taking Arimidex..
June 2011 osteopenia/ zometa x1 yearly- stopped Zometa 2015 as Dexa show normal bone density.
Stopped Arimidex July 2014- Restarted Arimidex 2015 for a further two years on the advice of my Onc.
2014 Normal Dexa scan
2018 Mammo all clear, still NED!
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