Decision on breast disease drug due
BY VIVIENNE AITKEN Health Editor HUNDREDS of Scots women with terminal breast cancer will this afternoon either be gifted another 16 months of life or see it snatched away.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) will reveal their decision at 2pm on whether to approve miracle drug Perjeta for women with metastasised HER2 positive breast cancer.
If it is approved, it will be the culmination of months of campaigning by women like Jen Hardy, whose chance for Perjeta has already gone.
Perjeta has to be given with the first treatment of the metastasised disease and can extend life by an average of 16 months, although many women are living far longer.
But until now, the SMC have refused to fund it on financial grounds.
It is already available to women in England and Wales. In May, Jen, 50, from Edinburgh, helped kick off the Daily Record-backed campaign when she told her heartbreaking story.
She fears she’ll not see her youngest daughter graduate from university and both her daughters married with children before she dies from the metastasised breast cancer, which is killing her.
Jen said: “I thought we could sell our house and move to England because I could get Perjeta there. But I would rather have quality time with my family than a longer time away from them. We shouldn’t have to make a choice between life and family.”
She added: “My chance to have it has passed now. You have to have it with your first treatment and my five months of chemotherapy are finished.”
While Jen can’t benefit, she is determined to make sure other Scots can.
She said: “Some girls have just had wee babies, some haven’t had babies yet. If I can help extend their lives, it is all to the good.”
The campaign has had a partial success. Last month, the SMC approved the drug, made by Roche, for shrinking tumours before the main treatment begins.
Ashleigh Simpson, of Breast Cancer Now, said: “We desperately hope the SMC, Roche and Scottish Government have done enough to enable the committee to approve Perjeta and end this injustice.”