Written question asked by John Baron (Conservative) on Monday, 26 June 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 29 June 2006. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Thursday, 29 June 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Breast Cancer

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 21 June, Official Report, column 1936W, on breast cancer, in what circumstances a breast cancer patient may not benefit from Herceptin.

Answer: It is for individual clinicians, in discussion with a patient, to decide whether or not it is suitable to prescribe a specific drug, taking into account any relevant guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Primary care trusts may need to be involved to decide whether to support the clinician's decision and supply the drug at the national health service expense.On 9 June 2006, NICE published its draft guidance on Herceptin. This recommends the drug for women with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer, except where there are concerns about cardiac function.However, there may be other individual patients for whom it is not suitable, for example, if the woman is too frail to tolerate chemotherapy. This will be a matter for discussion between a woman and her clinician.These recommendations are subject to an appeal period which dosed on 28 June 2006. Final guidance is expected to be issued at the beginning of July, assuming there are no appeals. There are no national restrictions on the NHS using Herceptin in the interim.

Secondary information