Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2683

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Fidelman C.
Herceptin in demand after glowing editorial
The Gazette ( Montreal) 2005 Oct 21
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/montreal/story.html?id=e4e4bd99-c8ca-45fb-b4f9-4ee36e86a295

Keywords:
Herceptin Breast cancer

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:
I suspect that the answer to the question “ How useful is Herceptin really?” will be a source of controversy for many years to come.
The early glowing reports have come in for some criticism with warnings that the merits of Herceptin nave been oversold. see Barbara Brenner’s ‘Letter to the Editor’ below-

Barbara Brenner’s Comments:
To the Editor:

Despite its problematic headline, the article “Call for more, earlier use of Herceptin” (Oct. 20) highlights key concerns about the new hype around this drug. Kudos to the people in the medical community who are cautioning against claims that the newly-published data indicates a “cure.” Women living with breast cancer know all too well that it’s irresponsible to even suggest such a thing when we only have a few years of data on this drug and still don’t know the full range of short and long term side effects.

Additionally, readers should know that Dr. Hortobagyi, who wrote the New England Journal of Medicine editorial encouraging widespread use of Herceptin for early stage breast cancer, is the same person who, in the early 1980s promoted high-dose chemotherapy for breast cancer before all the data were in. Treatment changed nearly overnight, but by the time meaningful data were available, many women had suffered, many lives had been lost and we learned that the treatment didn’t work for breast cancer. In 1999, Dr. Hortobagyi recanted to the New York Times, saying about the treatment, “We deceived ourselves and we deceived our patients… We oversold it.”

Barbara A. Brenner
Executive Director
Breast Cancer Action
55 New Montgomery Street, Suite 323
San Francisco, CA 94105
Toll Free: 877-2STOPBC (877-278-6722)
Fax: 415-243-3996
www.bcaction.org
www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org
Celebrating 15 years of activism!

Full text:

Herceptin in demand after glowing editorial

CHARLIE FIDELMAN
The Gazette

October 21, 2005

Demand for Herceptin treatment jumped yesterday in the wake of praise for the breast-cancer drug as a miracle cure for the disease.

Doctors and patient support groups reported more callers seeking therapy after yesterday’s editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Patients “are asking, ‘Is it available for them?’ “ Maychai Browne of Breast Cancer Action Montreal said. “They’re not at the point of asking questions about the possible side-effects – and there are side-effects. They just want the drug.”

To be eligible for Herceptin, patients must test positive for HER2, a protein that makes the breast cancer more difficult to treat. Between 15 and 25 per cent of breast cancers produce too much of the HER2 gene.

Several provinces, including Quebec, started covering drug costs as of July. Therapy ranges from $35,000 to $45,000 per woman per year, depending on the patient’s weight. Health Canada approved Herceptin in 1998 to fight an aggressive form of breast cancer in its advanced stages.

“We’ve known for six years it was effective in the treatment of cancer after it spread away from the breast,” said oncologist Rami Younan of Centre Hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal.

The latest studies show a 55- per-cent reduction in the risk of a recurrence for those who use Herceptin simultaneously with chemotherapy, in both early and advanced stages of the disease.

“This is curative,” Younan said. “We have never seen such dramatic results for survival of breast cancer.”

The drug is also known to significantly increase the risk of severe heart problems.

Health advocates are urging caution. It’s not known what survival rates are within five years of treatment.

“There are a lot of questions – we don’t know the long-term effects, both positive and negative,” said Sharon Batt of the Women and Health Protection, a coalition of women’s health groups and academics. “We can’t ignore that it’s vastly overpriced.”

Canadian sales of the drug jumped to $32.9 million in August from $9.6 million in 2000, according to IMS Health, which tracks drug use in Canada.

Anyone calling Herceptin “revolutionary” is going too far, Jewish General Hospital oncologist Michael Pollak said. “This is not penicillin. But it’s a great step forward. It will benefit thousands of women.”

But the therapy isn’t automatic, he tells breast-cancer patients clamouring for the treatment.

cfidelman@thegazette.canwest.com