PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
MANAGEMENT OF BREAST CANCER (18 March 2002)

That this House welcomes the long-overdue guidance issued by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on the NHS use of Herceptin (trastuzumab) in the treatment of HER2 positive advanced breast cancer; notes that one in nine women in the United Kingdom will suffer from breast cancer at some point in their lives, that patients who are HER2 positive have a poor prognosis with a median overall survival period from first diagnosis of only three years and that trastuzumab is the only drug treatment licensed in the United Kingdom specifically for the treatment of HER2 positive patients; further notes with concern that the appraisal process of this licensed treatment has taken 15 months; recognises that this delay has exacerbated, rather than alleviated, regional postcode variations in the availability of and funding for the treatment; and calls upon the Government, strategic health authorities, health authorities, local authorities and primary care trusts to ensure that the NICE guidance is implemented swiftly and in full so that all breast cancer patients who are eligible to receive this innovative treatment may obtain access to it on the NHS wherever they live.

Sponsored by:
Dr Ian Gibson (Labour)