Good news for Canadians

For my HER2 friends - some background.

I was phoned last night to interview for this article but I wasn't home. Otherwise I would have inserted a plug for this site. I do know both of the interviewees mentioned in this article. The Ms. Huebner mentioned is a friend of mine that I would never have met except for this cancer journey. She is in tears as she reads this article which will give so many women hope.

The Globe and Mail is a premier Canadian newspaper and is basically the ONLY nationally read newspaper that is read cross-provincially in Canada. This announcement is going to get GREAT coverage. The heat is now on the rest of the Provincial Premiers to also provide funding.

I believe that this move by the Canadian government will now up the considerable pressure on other countries such as the US & Britian that have so far refused to fund this valuable drug through their public health systems. It will also put the heat to the insurance companies that have been waffling.

One of the arguments that is being pushed by the medical profession here is that although there is a much higher up-front cost - it is cheaper in the long run because of the palliative care costs it avoids.... (economics are sick aren't they?)

Regards,
Merridith




By MARK HUME

Tuesday, July 12, 2005


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...Story/National/

B.C. agrees to pay for vaunted cancer drug
Ontario also says it is speeding up process for bringing Herceptin to patients

Vancouver — British Columbia will spend $8-million to immediately provide the breakthrough drug Herceptin to breast-cancer patients, bringing a thrill of hope to Trude Huebner and hundreds of women like her.

"For me, it means I may actually live to see a grandchild," said Ms. Huebner, a 58-year-old cancer patient. "I couldn't believe it when my doctor told me I was going to get it. I was just shocked. I felt like doing cartwheels."

Yesterday, British Columbia yesterday was the first province to approve and cover the cost of the drug that has shown potential to improve the survival chances of women with a severe form of breast cancer.

Other provinces are expected to follow suit; the drug is currently available on a case-by-case basis in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

Ontario says it will expedite the drug-approval process for Herceptin.

Ms. Huebner is one of the estimated 160 B.C. women expected to qualify this year for access to Herceptin through the BC Cancer Agency. She said that during her visits to the cancer-treatment clinic over the past year, she often heard patients talk about the new drug, which has been available on a limited basis in some parts of the country.

"A lot of women have been reading the research on-line. The excitement is there," she said. "Of course we all wanted it, but we knew it was very expensive and there's just no way we could cover the cost of it ourselves."

Nancy Baye, a spokeswoman for The Young & the Breastless, a B.C. support group for breast-cancer survivors, said a lot of women will be thrilled at news the drug is now available.

"When I learned that, I pretty much fell to my knees and started to cry," she said. "I felt joy. It's going to extend a lot of lives."

B.C. Health Minister George Abbott said all breast-cancer patients in the province who qualify for treatment will now gain immediate access to the therapy.

"The evidence that Herceptin can give new hope to certain women with breast cancer is compelling. Making the drug available to patients in B.C. is the right thing to do," Mr. Abbott said.

Ms. Baye said the drug "opens up another treatment area," and helps with the continuing battle against breast cancer, the most common cancer among Canadian women. In British Columbia, about 1,084 women will receive chemotherapy at the BC Cancer Agency in the next year. About 85 per cent of B.C. women are alive five years after diagnosis, compared with about 82 per cent for the rest of Canada.

A course of Herceptin, which has been described as one of the biggest breast-cancer breakthroughs in a decade, costs up to $50,000 per patient, per year.

To be eligible for Herceptin, patients must be undergoing or have recently completed chemotherapy. They must also have tested positive for HER-2, a protein that makes cancer more aggressive and difficult to treat. The drug slows the growth of cancer cells that make too much HER-2.

Ms. Huebner is a Vancouver-based researcher and writer who learned in June of 2004 that she had HER-2 and an aggressive form of cancer that was in her breasts and lymph nodes.

"I have a Grade 3 tumour, nine out of 13 lymph nodes are positive [for cancer], and HER-2, so it doesn't get much worse," said Ms. Huebner, who has continued to run her consulting business, Spear Maiden, from her home between bouts of chemotherapy treatment.

She lost her hair, went through periods of intense illness and began to wonder how long she had left.

With her son putting off starting a family while he competes at a high level in bicycle racing, she thought her chances of seeing a grandchild were slim.

Then last week she regained hope, when Dr. Stephen Chia told her that government approval of Herceptin had come through and she would likely be one of the first to receive it.

"Dr. Chia said this treatment will increase my chances of survival dramatically . . . and it takes something for a cautious, conservative scientist to use a word like 'dramatically,'" she said.

New clinical-trial results have shown that the drug, when used in conjunction with chemotherapy, can cut the risk of recurrence of the disease by more than half, within four years of diagnosis.

"I thought, doing the math, I need at least two years to see my grandchild. And now I think I have that," Ms. Huebner said.

But for her, and others who meet the basic criteria for treatment, there is one last test to be passed before the drug therapy starts.

"One of the side effects to Herceptin is that it could soften the heart walls, so I have to be examined before treatment begins," said Ms. Huebner, who is scheduled for an examination on Thursday. "You have to have a good heart. Fortunately, I've been a swimmer all my life so I feel pretty confident."

Ms. Huebner said friends of hers in the chemotherapy program have been working out just in the hope that Herceptin would become available, and that their hearts would be strong enough if it did.