Herceptin case U-turn

Thursday, 10 November 2005 12:00 AM

A breast cancer sufferer will be prescribed the lifesaving drug Herceptin, after a U-turn by her local healthcare trust.

Elaine Barber had previously been told by North Stoke primary care trust that it would not supply her with the drug on the grounds of safety and cost-effectiveness.

But an intervention by health secretary Patricia Hewitt has forced the trust to back-track, and Ms Barber will now receive Herceptin.

The health secretary had previous stated that it was up to individual health care trusts to decide whether to fund the drug, and the case has raised further questions about women's access to it, with critics claiming it is "a postcode lottery".

However, the trust insisted it was Ms Barber's "particular exceptional circumstances" which eventually forced them to reverse their earlier decision.

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