Herceptin availability in UK is paid for by "dropped" patients

The British Medical Journal has published a report, claiming that "the real cost" of US specialist drugmaker Genentech's Herceptin (trastuzumab) to the UK's National Health Service is "borne by other patients whose treatment has to be dropped to balance the books." The article has appeared following the drug's approval for treating early-stage breast cancer by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the body that advises the UK government on drug and clinical effectiveness.

In the same issue of the BMJ, Fiona Godlee, the editor, wrote an editorial supporting the view that the NICE should be given responsibility for deciding what treatments should be cut to pay for newly-approved drugs (Marketletter November 27). Alternatively, she said, the government body should be authorized to allocate additional funding.