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BCAC is delighted to hear that Pharmac proposes to fund Phesgo®, a rapidly injectable formulation of two anti HER2 medicines, pertuzumab and trastuzumab, from 1 December 2025. Currently these medicines are administered sequentially by intravenous infusion, but Phesgo contains an enzyme that allows it to be given as a single injection under the skin. This means a much shorter treatment time at hospital outpatient clinics for patients.
Dr Emma O’Loughlin, Senior Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Otago, has shared a new set of post-operative exercise videos designed for women recovering from breast cancer surgery in Aotearoa New Zealand. They support recovery after mastectomy, lumpectomy, and lymph node surgery.
These short, supportive videos were co-designed with Māori, Pacific, and non-Māori/non-Pacific women, based on interviews and focus groups about their recovery experiences and preferences for online content. They offer safe, practical, and culturally relevant guidance to support shoulder mobility, reduce the risk of lymphoedema, and promote confidence during recovery. They would suit patients from week 1 post-op (also safe for those with drains).
Currently, New Zealand insurers can use genetic test results when underwriting insurance policies, potentially leading to higher premiums or policy denials. Against Genomic Discrimination in Aotearoa (AGenDA) is pushing for a ban on the use of genetic information in insurance decisions, mirroring protections seen in other countries.
BCAC Secretary Fay Sowerby, who is also is a spokesperson for AgenDA, filed this report on the group’s latest activity.
On Tuesday 12 August 2024, AGenDA’s Fay Sowerby and Andrew Shelling organised and facilitated an education session on genetic discrimination in insurance for members of parliament, hosted by Todd Stephenson MP.
BCAC has written a submission on the Healthy Futures Pae Ora Amendment Bill, seeking to reset Pharmac’s statutory objectives. We asked for removal of the restrictive “within the amount of funding provided”, written in 1993 when Pharmac was established with the purpose of constraining spending on medicines. Like every other Crown Entity, Pharmac is already required to be financially responsible. The long-standing focus on minimal investment has prevented Pharmac from actively striving to provide modern treatments to people when they need them. We’re hoping a change in focus will lead to better access to medicines, delivering longer, healthier lives to Kiwis.
The current state of play in developing liquid biopsies for breast cancer was described at Breast Cancer Trials’ Annual Scientific Meeting in Hobart by Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
A liquid biopsy is a blood test that looks for materials, such as circulating tumour cells (CTCs) or cell-free circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) released by breast cancer tumours into the bloodstream.
In breast cancer, ctDNA could provide information to help with early detection, molecular profiling, detecting minimal residual disease, detecting relapses and monitoring responses to therapy.
At the recent Breast Cancer Trials Annual Scientific Meeting in Hobart Professor Shelley Potter from Bristol presented results from the ANTHEM study. This looked at clinical and patient-reported outcomes for women offered oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery vs mastectomy with or without immediate reconstruction.
Currently in the United Kingdom, 40% of women diagnosed with breast cancer each year undergo a mastectomy, but of these only one in four receives a reconstruction. Professor Potter noted that breast cancer patients live for many years with the consequences of surgery decisions; it is important to get it right.
CDK4/6 inhibitors, palbociclib, ribociclib and abemaciclib, are important medicines for treating hormone receptor (HR) positive breast cancer, especially after tumours have become resistant to endocrine therapy (tamoxifen and/or aromatase inhibitors). (Read more about endocrine therapy here.)
At Breast Cancer Trials’ recent conference in Hobart Dr Shom Goel explained how they work and reported on progress in research and development of other medicines with similar modes of action.
Australian doctors Belinda Yeo and Virginia Baird gave a very enlightening and frank presentation on sexual health at Breast Cancer Trials’ recent conference in Hobart, with some excellent advice not only for women experiencing breast cancer but also their doctors.
Sexual health has a much broader definition than most of us might think. WHO defines it as “A state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possiblity of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.”
The fear of recurrence is something that most people who have been treated for cancer experience, but it is often the ‘elephant in the room’ when patients meet with their doctors. Doctors don’t want to upset their patients by bringing it up and patients don’t want to look ungrateful for the treatment they’ve had (or they don’t have time to bring it up when they have other questions to get through at an appointment).
Associate Professor Ben Smith of the University of Sydney’s Daffodil Centre spoke about evidence-based management of fear of recurrence to doctors, researchers and patient advocates at Breast Cancer Trials’ recent conference in Hobart.
About 60% of people who have had cancer treatment experience frequent, insistent and intrusive thoughts of recurrence.
The stress of a being cancer patient is something most people can understand and many of our readers will be only too familiar with this. (For some tips on coping with stress, read more here.)
However, we seldom hear about the stress experienced by the medical professionals who treat cancer. Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield from the University of Sussex UK spoke on the topic of burn-out and self-care to a large audience of oncologists and other cancer health care professionals at Breast Cancer Trials’ recent conference in Hobart.
