New breast cancer drug shows promise
30th Nov 2005, 15:38 GMT
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Drug A new drug, Herceptin, could prove to be extremely efficient in fight against breast cancer. Currently, the drug has shown great promise in extending life expectancy in the later stages of the cancer, and some researchers are extremely hopeful that the drug will prove as efficient in preventing further metastisis in the early stage of breast cancer. As exciting as this news is, Herceptin carries a heavy price tag. At nearly $45,000 for a year's prescription there are not many individuals or insurance companies who are able to take the plunge, "there are experts in this country and in insurance agencies and Medicaid that have a lot of decisions to make," said Debbie Saslow, the director of breast and gynecological cancer at the American Cancer Society. It is a sad day when we have such promise right in our hands and yet it is unavailable to all but a select few. The fact that our drug companies profit so heavily from disease and pain is stomach turning. I understand the companies have expenses, overhead etc, but it seems like maybe they could just have a huge red tag sale and toss out some freebies for the people in need. Read Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
New breast cancer drug shows promise related news:
- Can healthcare systems afford Herceptin for early breast cancer? — EurekAlert! - Cancer
- Novartis Warns About Breast Cancer Drug Use — NYNewsday.com Health and Science headlines
- Will Herceptin be effective for early breast cancer? — Medical News Today RSS/XML Feed
- Difficult decisions ahead over Herceptin breast cancer drug — News-Medical News Feed
- Testing for breast cancer is getting more comfortable — The Cancer Blog
- Novartis Issues Breast Cancer Drug Warning (Associated Press) —
- Novartis Issues Breast Cancer Drug Warning (AP) — Yahoo! News: Top Stories
- Novartis Issues Breast Cancer Drug Warning — AP Top Headlines At 8:24 p.m. EST
- Warning issued for breast cancer drug — MSNBC.com: Health
- Herceptin could cost millions — The Cancer Blog