Breast Cancer Consumer Advocacy Group Dismayed by PTAC Decision

The Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition (BCAC) has expressed dismay over a decision made today by the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC) to delay its recommendation that trastuzumab (Herceptin) be considered for subsidy in the treatment of early HER2 positive breast cancer.  (PTAC provides clinical advice to PHARMAC on pharmaceuticals being considered for subsidy).

Clinical trials show that Herceptin reduces the rate of recurrence of the aggressive HER2 positive form of breast cancer by up to 52%. PTAC has indicated that ‘interim and incomplete data … looks promising’ but has concerns over the drug’s safety profile and will await approval from Medsafe, the regulatory group that will make a decision on March 7 regarding the safety and efficacy of the use of Herceptin for early HER2 positive breast cancer.

BCAC Chairperson Libby Burgess says her organisation recognizes that Herceptin has a low 4% rate of cardiac toxicity (of the 13,000 women who participated in clinical trials, two died of cardiac complications; one in the control group and on in the trial group) but some chemotherapy drugs widely used in cancer treatments also have a known rate of cardiac toxicity (e.g. adriamycin), and ‘it is up to the individual patient to discuss the risks for their particular circumstances with their oncologist and so make a decision appropriate for their care. Herceptin is already widely used in New Zealand for advanced metastatic HER2 positive breast cancers so the relative risk is already being considered and managed by patients and their oncologists’.

‘We acknowledge that Medsafe is the appropriate government body to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Herceptin for use in early breast cancer treatment,’ said Ms Burgess, ‘and we urge PTAC to seek further advice from its cancer treatments subcommittee (CaTSOP) before the Medsafe meeting on March 7.We look forward to PHARMAC funding the drug promptly once Medsafe has approved it because time is of the essence for those women and their families who desperately need Herceptin. Every delay brings fresh heartbreak.’