17,096 Kiwis Call For Urgent Action To Fund Keytruda For New Zealand's 'deadliest Breast Cancer'
Catherine was diagnosed with early TNBC, an aggressive form of breast cancer in November last year after her yearly mammogram. She was told Keytruda with chemotherapy would give her the best chance of survival – but the drug would only be funded if her cancer was advanced. Instead, Catherine has had to put most of her work on hold and sell her family home to fund the treatment - which is costing around $85,000.
Around 350 women are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer every year, which is approximately 10% of all breast cancer diagnoses. It is also more common in younger women with nearly 15% of diagnoses in women under the age of 45 being triple negative.
For one in three women with early triple negative breast cancer, it will return and become incurable within five years. It is the deadliest form of breast cancer and is harder to treat. Unlike most other breast cancers, triple negative breast cancer doesn't respond to hormone-blocking treatments and targeted drugs.
Keytruda is an immunotherapy drug, and it is the only targeted treatment that works to fight triple negative breast cancer and is given to patients alongside chemotherapy. It's fully funded in 40 other countries including Australia, Canada and Britain. New international research was published last year and showed that Keytruda can stop women dying from triple negative breast cancer because it's highly effective at preventing cancer coming back.
Patients with early triple negative breast cancer receiving Keytruda in a clinical trial were 34% less likely to die and 32% less likely to have their cancer spread beyond the breast. It is widely accepted by the medical community internationally as the best drug to treat early triple negative breast cancer and New Zealanders deserve access to this treatment.
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ Chief Executive, Ah-Leen Rayner said 'women like Catherine are having to go through drastic lengths to be able to pay for Keytruda. It's atrocious that New Zealanders are selling their homes, asking for help from their parents or complete strangers to find hundreds of thousands of dollars, or potentially simply going without treatment that could save their lives.
'We are so grateful to Catherine for working tirelessly for better drug access for New Zealanders in the future, but she shouldn't have to. We're urging the government to ensure Pharmac has the budget it needs to fund these essential medicines that are standard of care around the world.'
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