About Herceptin injection for Breast Cancer

Online u can see netmeds.com or manddo.com (Medicines and Doctors online). Go to medicines section

The right person to guide you would be your Medical Oncologist who has prescribed it to you. He would be prescribing Herceptin to many patients. He would surely know of all schemes and discounts available. I am sure that once you discuss the details with him or her, you will get a detailed insight as to which Herceptin molecule you can buy, what is the efficacy, the differences and the cost involved.

As for the Herceptin medication, it is clearly needed, if she can cope with it (the heart should be monitored, because Herceptin has a side effect of making the heart weaker, while Herceptin medication is taken). It is to be taken for a year - and might be commenced as a part of the chemo, or else afterwards.

The lymph nodes must have been involved as well (if radiation is devised for a removal of the breast)?

If she is ER positive, one would normally recommend an anti hormone treatment as well (starting after chemo has ended) - if she is still premenopausal, then Tamoxifen (until she becomes post-menopausal), and if she is postmenopaisal, an aromatase inhibitor like Letroxole (or similar, there are 3 kinds of medication in that group). It must be taken for at least 5 years. So is she ER positive?

Kind regards,

Kaare (from Denmark)

Hi,

I have a similar case with my mother as well. My mother was ER, PR - Negative, with HER-2 high positive. Apparently, HER-2 positive means the drug Herceptin has to be given. There are alternate protocols which you might choose, but Herceptin (Medical name: Trastuzumab) is the best one available. Best one meaning chances of recurrence are very low compared to others. But the problem is, it is quite expensive.

There are 6 options available for Herceptin. They are: First price bracket - Roche Herceptin (original product, imported from Switzerland), Second price bracket - Biceltis and Herclon (Roche collaborated products with India, endorsed by Roche), Third price bracket - Hertraz, Canmab and Vivitra (Indian medicines which are bio-similar, not endorsed by Roche). MRP of the medicines are quite high, but should you buy from medicine dealers externally, it should cost you significantly less. For example - MRP of Hertraz is around 55-57k but if you buy externally, it can cost you as low as 28k. Biceltis and Herclon has a price bracket of around 40k (more or less) from medicine dealers. But you might face some problems from Hospitals as many hospitals do not allow medicine bought from outside their own pharmacies. That is something you might want to consult with your oncologist.

Another tip, is that public hospitals sometimes sell these medicines at very cheap rate for their patients. Example of this is TATA MEMORIAL MUMBAI. If you are a TATA patient, you can buy medicines from the Hospital at very low prices (Hartraz costs around 20k+ I think). But bear in mind whenever you buy medicines externally (from dealers or anywhere else), the maintenance responsibility of the drugs are solely yours. Herceptin has to kept refrigerated (not frozen - be careful, just refrigerated) at all times. Even transporting them has to be in Ice Boxes for good preservation.

The jury is still out there on the effectiveness of Bio-similar Indian Medicines, Roche claims they are not effective and has even taken them to court (to protect their market interests) while many Oncologists say they are just as effective.

My mother needs 17 cycles of Herceptin. On the advice of my Oncologist I gave her Biceltis for the first 6 cycles (with Chemotherapy) and later am currently continuing on Hertraz / Canmab only.

Regarding ER positive, I believe your patient will need to be on Hormone tablets for quite some years (maybe 5-6 depending on oncologist advice). Hormone tablets are quite cheap so you needn't worry about that.

My mother did not need Radiotherapy, I believe it was due to all lymph nodes of her were free of the disease. If lymph nodes were positive I think your patient will need radiotherapy. Again, that is something you should discuss in detail with your oncologist when you can.

Also, Herceptin has a bit of a cardiac setback. When your patient is on Herceptin, she will need to have a 2D Echo at least once every 3 months to monitor her heart condition.

Hope I was of some use to you.

Cheers!

Dear Ashfaqomi

Thanks for your valuable feedback.of course it will help me lot.

Thanks for entire team for their valuable feedback.

Regards

sppande