Good news for patients who cannot afford treatment for an aggressive type of breast cancer.
The Health Ministry has approved the biosimilar version of trastuzumab (a monoclonal antibody), a targeted therapy, for women with HER2-positive breast cancer, said minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
These patients have a gene mutation which promotes the growth of cancer cells by making an excess of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein.
“We have just approved the biosimilar,” Dr Dzulkefly said, adding that the drug will be made available in the ministry’s Medicines Formulary next year.
He, however, did not have the exact date yet.
Biosimilar of trastuzumab was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States in December last year, and Thailand had also registered the drug in that country.
But oncologists said the biosimilar drug had not been registered by the authorities here and urged for the registration to be expedited to enable them to help patients.
It was reported that trastuzumab can prolong the lives of HER2 patients by an average of three to five years, but some had lived longer.
Dr Dzulkefly said that one in five breast cancer patients was diagnosed with HER2 every year.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women in Malaysia.
The Malaysian National Cancer Registry Report 2011 showed that female breast cancer accounted for 32.1% of all cancers among females in Malaysia.
Breast cancer was also the most frequent cancer in Malaysia at 17.7% followed by colorectal and lung.
He urged Malaysian women to get diagnosed early because the current poor survival rate was due to a late presentation – at stage three and four.
He said women play an important role in the family and community and it was important they have access to information and knowledge about cancer.
“Everyone has a role to play in reaching out to these women, in urban and rural areas as well as from high to low incomes,” he said at a press conference after the Targeted Therapy Welfare Fund for Breast Cancer launch here yesterday.
For the welfare fund, Beacon Hospital medical director and consultant oncologist Datuk Dr Ibrahim Abdul Wahid said patients selected will pay RM2,500 per cycle instead of RM8,000 to RM10,000.
The total medicine cost is about RM130,000 but patients pay RM42,500 (17-cycle treatment) or RM45,000 (18-cycle treatment). The amount may differ from hospital to hospital. The rest would be subsidised by Roche Malaysia and Beacon Hospital.
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