Oncologists in U.K. Juggling Herceptin Decisions and Funding

Wednesday November 29, 2006

HER2 Molecule complexed with Herceptin Fab

Oncologists in the U.K. are having to decide who will receive the drug Herceptin, for treatment of breast cancer. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has told hospitals to offer the drug to those with all stages of breast cancer, including those with early stage disease. But since funding is limited, doctors find they are facing hard decisions on how to spend treatment funds on cancer patients. Doctors in Norfolk wrote: “The real cost of Herceptin is in the other patients not treated, whether they are patients with cancer or those with other conditions. Nice gives no guidance on this issue.” Women who are currently breast cancer patients are in lawsuits over their right to treatment with Herceptin.

Image of the HER2 Molecule is courtesy of RCSB Protein Data Bank.
PDB ID: 1N8Z, Cho, H.-S., Mason, K., Ramyar, K.X., Stanley, A.M., Gabelli, S.B., Denney Jr., D.W., Leahy, D.J., Structure of the Extracellular Region of HER2 Alone and in Complex with the Herceptin Fab, Nature v421 pp.756-760 , 2003