News Story
Breast cancer drugs: $21 million wasted
UNSW researchers have highlighted concerns about the clinical use and cost benefits of one of Australia’s most expensive publicly-funded medicines, the anti-breast cancer drug Herceptin.
The world-first study has appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. It looks at all women with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer who received Herceptin in Australia between December 2001 and March 2005.
Researchers Dr Sallie-Anne Pearson, Ms Clare Ringland and Professor Robyn Ward found use of the drug in clinical practice differed from the way it was used in clinical trials. The drug was used for longer periods in real-life situations, often in conjunction with chemotherapy drugs which are not approved for use with Herceptin.
For the full story, see the UNSW website.
News story published 24/08/2007