Push for breast cancer aid

By Tania Martin
A FORMER Emerald woman has gained support from two Federal MPs to speed the process of having the cancer drug Herceptin placed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
This comes after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved an application by pharmaceutical company Riche Products for the use of Herceptin to be extended for the treatment of early stage HER2 breast cancer.
In April, the TGA announced that Herceptin, as a combined treatment with chemotherapy and surgery, proved to be effective in the treatment of HER2 breast cancer.
Despite this recent win, Herceptin is not expected to be assessed for the PBS until the July meeting of the PBS advisory committee.
Maree Bissels, who has HER2 breast cancer, has been fighting for the Government to fast-track Herceptin on to the PBS register since November when she initiated a Australia-wide petition campaign.
La Trobe MP Jason Wood, who was contacted last year by Mrs Bissels’s two sisters, said he was never against the introduction of Herceptin but wanted the TGA’s report on the safety of the drug before being willing to support Ms Bissels’s campaign.
Mr Wood wrote to the Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, on Friday urging him to expedite the PBS process.
Since November, Mrs Bissels has collected more than 25,500 signatures from every corner of Australia.
Holt MP Anthony Byrne has also supported Mrs Bissels’s campaign and presented a 10,000 signature petition to Parliament in February.
Mr Byrne is set to present another 15,000 signature petition to Parliament in coming weeks which Mrs Bissels has collected over the past two months.
Despite the TGA ruling, HER2 cancer sufferers will have to wait until July and Mrs Bissels said this was too long.
Mrs Bissels questioned why people had to wait if the TGA had already approved that the drug was safe and effective.
She said it costs her $5000 for each treatment and that if Herceptin wasn’t approved until July, it would cost her a further $20,000.
She said she has already spent that amount of money since starting treatment in February.
However, Mrs Bissels said she understood that the Government had processes in place for the introduction of drugs such as Herceptin, which is referred to the TGA, then to the PBS advisory committee (PBAC) before being approved by the Government.
But she said something should be done about the process so that it was both effective and efficient.
“People are selling their homes, cars, stocks, shares and cashing in their superannuation, and then there are others who don’t have any of that to cash in – imagine how they are feeling,” she said.
Mrs Bissels has also been approved to set up a charity bank account to raise funds for women who don’t have the money to pay for Herceptin treatment.
She said the fundraiser is called the Herceptin Campaign Fund and people can deposit money into the account at the Bendigo Bank in account BSB number 633000 and account number 127756930.
People who want to join the petition campaign can write to Mrs Bissels care of the Woori Yallock Post Office, 1185 Warburton Highway, 3139.