Improving access to treatment therapies for breast cancer patients

In order to improve access to treatment therapies for cancer patients, Health and Community Services Minister John Ottenheimer today announced that government will introduce a new drug � Herceptin - to the Provincial Systemic Therapy Formulary to treat selected patients with early stage breast cancer (Stages 1, 2 and 3). The drug is currently used to treat patients with metastatic breast cancer.

�Government recognizes that advances in medical research result in new treatment therapies for cancer patients and we are committed to providing these patients with the most current and beneficial treatment possible,� said Minister Ottenheimer. �Recent research on Herceptin has demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of early stage breast cancer for selected patients and we are therefore pleased to make the treatment available for breast cancer patients in our province.�

Government will invest $2,030,000 annually to add Herceptin to the Provincial Systemic Therapy Program to cover treatment costs for approximately 40 patients. The Provincial Systemic Therapy Program is administered by Eastern Health, which is responsible for the introduction of and utilization of intravenous systemic therapy drugs for all cancer patients in the province.

Dr. Kara Laing, Director of Medical Oncology and Head of the Provincial Systemic Therapy Program with Eastern Health said she is very pleased with today�s announcement. �The benefits seen with the addition of Herceptin to adjuvant therapy for breast cancer is one of the most significant advances in cancer care that we have ever seen. We are now able to offer this important treatment to our patients here in Newfoundland and Labrador,� said Dr. Laing. Canada is one of the first countries to now have this therapy available to breast cancer patients and this will improve cure rates for patients across our country.�

Recent research from clinical trials for patients with HER-2 positive invasive breast cancer demonstrates that those patients with early stage breast cancer who received Herceptin in combination with chemotherapy had a significant decrease in risk for breast cancer recurrence and death compared with patients who received the same therapy without Herceptin. Patients are considered �HER-2 positive� if their cancer cells overexpress, or make too much of, a protein called HER-2, which is found on the surface of cancer cells. Herceptin slows or stops the growth of these cells, and it is only used to treat breast cancers that overexpress the HER-2 protein, which is approximately 20 per cent of breast cancers. These tumours tend to grow faster and are generally more likely to recur than tumours that do not overproduce HER-2.

Today�s announcement enhances government�s Budget initiatives to strengthen cancer services across the province. Budget 2005 provided over $16 million to reduce wait times for cancer care, give patients greater access to chemotherapy and radiation and improve early detection of cancer with new diagnostic equipment including mammography and endoscopy units, ultrasounds, an MRI and CT Scanners. A further $1.55 million was invested in April 2005 to improve cancer services in the central region.

Media contact: Tansy Mundon, Communications, (709) 729-1377, 685-1741.

2005 11 09                         2:15 p.m.