NEW ZEALAND'S PHARMAC ANNOUNCES DECISION ON HERCEPTIN

New Zealand's Pharmaceutical Management Agency (PHARMAC) has decided not to fund Roche's drug Herceptin for early stage breast cancer, the agency announced. PHARMAC's clinical advisory committee has examined further evidence and recommended that 12 months of Herceptin treatment not be funded. The committee identified continuing uncertainties raised by clinical trials as a key reason for its recommendation.

The Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC) reviewed further data following a PHARMAC decision in July to not fund Herceptin. The new information included: provisional (not peer-reviewed) two-year data from the one-year treatment arm of the large-scale HERA trial; an independent analysis of Herceptin by the University of Sheffield; and data from Finland-based trial for a nine-week treatment option (the FinHer trial).

Despite some new information, PTAC's view is that funding is still not justified, PHARMAC's Deputy Medical Director Dilky Rasiah said. "When funding medicines, we need to be confident that the evidence supports that investment over other medicines PHARMAC is evaluating. This is particularly important when investments are very large, such as with Herceptin ($20 to 25 million per year). At the moment, the evidence does not provide us with that confidence," Rasiah said.

PTAC has, however, asked for further advice from its cancer treatment subcommittee on the feasibility of funding nine weeks of treatment with Herceptin (as tested in the FinHer trial).