Just a quick post but this is definitely worth a read.
Should people with this much influence be more careful about what they’re pushing? Reading a bad book she pushed is one thing, ruining your life with hormone therapy is another… Kudos to Newsweek for this one.
Yesterday, Pharmac released the decision not to fund the breast cancer treatment drug, Herceptin.
Now I can’t say I was happy with the decision, but after conducting my own research it gave me a different look at things. Obviously, I’m not over the moon that Pharmac will only fund a 9-week course of the drug but I’m convinced that the right decision was made based on safe science and evidence, instead of emotion and hysteria.
National has announced they will fund a full 12-month course, with the usual “boo Labour” spin thrown in.
Ok, that’s fine, if 12 months of Herceptin is the magic cure Dr Jackie Blue says it is, do it.
But I hope it will be done by increasing the government funding that Pharmac is allowed to play with by more than the $30 million that Herceptin will cost. Pharmac spends ~$50 million a year on all cancer drugs, New Zealand can not afford to reassign $30 million from elsewhere in the health budget.
There is a lot of mis-information and emotion tied up in this issue. Some people blame sexism as the cause:
[Former Herceptin Heroine chair Anne] Hayden said she would be interested to see what would happen in New Zealand if a wonder drug came out for prostate cancer.
Some commenters even blame Pharmac “trying to protect their huge profits”. Right.
Stuff have been covering the issue quite well, with a brief history of Herceptin, plenty of “human interest” coverage and even a look at the political side of things.
Update: If you want a laugh (or cry), KiwiBlog has a post up about it with another cheap shot at Labour (pretty sure the snails only have to be moved once)…
Some interesting comments… from rabid frothers wishing cancer on the “labour wimmin” to a quiet voice of reason from a few others.
