not as simple as it would seem

As someone living with metastatic breast cancer, I pay keen attention to the development of new cancer drugs. And of course I pay particular attention to the drugs that are likely to one day benefit me.I have been on Herceptin for 7.5 years. My response was rapid and complete and there is no sign that the drug has stopped working. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't worry about the future and how I will proceed once I come to the end of the line with this miracle drug.Enter trastuzumab emtansine, or TDM-1, as it was more commonly known. Over the last couple of years, I watched with great interest as clinical trials occurred all over North America. I have been personally in touch with several women who had as thorough a response to TDM-1 as I did to Herceptin. It was very exciting.Then the trials ended and we had to wait for Health Canada to grant their approval. When that hurdle was cleared, I breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the sigh was a little premature.The time between Health Canada approval and provincial funding can be long and complicated. Once Health Canada grants its approval, a body called the Pan Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) assesses the drug, a process that can take up to 149 days. After pCODR makes a recommendation, each province decides if it will fund it. And while this is happening, Ontario, unlike some other provinces "...does not have a mechanism in place that would grant cancer patients access on compassionate grounds to a drug that has&...
Source: Not just about cancer - Category: Cancer Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog chemotherapy community fear good stuff health care herceptin lucky show and tell Source Type: blogs