Drugs Herceptin

Despite its seeming benefit to individual patients, pharmacogenetics has not been widely embraced by the pharmaceutical industry. Certainly pharmacogenetic principles were applied in the development of the anticancer drugs Herceptin and... 

Postrel, Virginia. My Drug Problem Refusal of New Zealand Government to Pay for Herceptin Treatments. Atlantic Monthly 303, no. 2 (March 2009) 32-34. The author describes how, at the cost of 60,000 to her insurer, the drug Herceptin successfully treated her breast cancer. She argues that a more centralized U.S. health care system will need to limit costs for expensive drugs like this. Already, the New Zealand government has refused to pay for treatment by Herceptin. 

Like patients with breast carcinoma, those with ovarian cancer may benefit from treatment with Herceptin in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs. Herceptin treatment is effective, in both early and advanced stages of ovarian cancer (when the majority of tumor cells express HER-2 protein), for eliminating the potentially more malignant HER-2-positive tumor cells. The effectiveness of Herceptin is based on the affinity of this monoclonal antibody for the extracellular domain of HER-2, which is common as ovarian carcinomas progress. However, a tumor vaccine inducing antibody and/or T-cell immunity to HER-2 epitopes will ultimately provide the most effective means to prevent the emergence of HER-2-positive cells. 

Table 5.1 Mean combination index values for chemotherapeutic drug/ Herceptin combinations in vitro (SK-BR-3 cell line)...

Herceptin and Tykerb are examples of large and small molecule drugs prescribed for the treatment of breast cancer. Refer to Section 4.8 for details. 

Leyland-Jones B. Maximizing the response to Herceptin therapy through optimal use and patient selection. Anticancer Drugs 2001 12(suppl 4) S11- S17. 

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