 Not all health authorities in the UK are funding Herceptin treatment |
Breast cancer patients in Guernsey have been given an assurance that budget cuts in the Health Department will not affect their treatment. The average cost of providing a drug such as Herceptin is about �25,000 a year per patient. Five local women are currently being treated with the drug.
Minister Peter Roffey said life-saving drugs would remain a priority.
The maker of Herceptin has applied for a licence for it to be used to treat the early stages of the disease.
Roche was granted a licence for the drug to be used in the treatment of secondary or late-stage breast cancer in March 2002, but it now claims Herceptin can reduce the risk of some early-stage breast cancer by about 46%.
In the UK the NHS funding for the drug has been criticised by some who have called it a "postcode lottery".
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
