Who is offered Herceptin?
Herceptin is freely available to women with secondary (metastatic) HER 2+ cancer – cancer that has spread. Herceptin has now also been licensed in the UK as an as early (adjuvant*) treatment approved by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for use after chemotherapy. If your HER 2 test result is positive your Oncologist will explain what the potential benefits and harms of Herceptin treatment might be. If you and your Oncologist agree that you may benefit from Herceptin treatment, and these benefits are likely to outweigh any possible risks of taking the drug, then it will be prescribed for you. Women who have HER2+ breast cancer which does not require chemotherapy will not be offered Herceptin. However, they are likely to be offered one of the aromatase inhibitors to take every day for the next few years, as there is now good evidence that these can help to prevent the cancer recurring.
