In Europe, the policy argument over denying patients access to expensive medicines continues. In the latest round of the debate, backers of the cancer drug Herceptin are clashing with cynics who think the highly-touted therapy is far too expensive to be widely used. An article published today in the Annals of Oncology by Belgian economist Mattias Neyt argues that the cost of treating all eligible women with breast cancer would be prohibitively expensive (£17.5 million annually for Belgium.) In the UK, where health officials want to provide the drug to all women with early stage breast cancer, the cost could be as high as £107 million. Neyt argues governments simply cannot afford that level of commitment.
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