No guarantees with Herceptin

There are no guarantees that Herceptin will save the lives of people suffering from early stage breast cancer, according to the NHS Confederation.

The drug has been in the headlines this week after a cancer patient took her primary care trust (PCT) to the court of appeal.

Ann-Marie Rogers, 54, is seeking to overturn the decision by Swindon PCT not to prescribe her Herceptin.

“The drug does not work in such way that you can definitely say that prescribing it to a given patient will or will not save their life,” spokesman for the NHS confederation, Nigel Edwards, told the BBC.

“This is an issue of probabilities which is what makes this decision so difficult and so agonising for people to work through.”

Last month, the high court ruled against Ms Rogers, who is continuing to receive Herceptin while her appeal runs its course.

Clinical trials have shown that the drug can reduce the reoccurrence of breast cancer but it has not been licensed for the treatment of the disease in its early stages.

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