Hopeful Breast Cancer news

While breast cancer is generally pretty treatable (given early detection and regular exams), some forms of the disease are especially pernicious. Now, the Feds have "approved a new "smart bomb" drug ... that can help women with one of the most hard-to-cure types of breast cancer."Called Kadcyla, it attacks HER2-positive form of breast cancer; it's not necessarily a cure, but it does appear to add several months to victims' lives. It's actually a hybrid, combining an older drug (Herceptin) with the powerful chemo med DM1.Does it work as advertised?You be the judge:"In a trial of 991 women with advanced HER2 breast cancer, those who got Kadcyla lived on average 5.8 months longer than those getting more standard chemotherapy ... meant about 2 ½ years of life after diagnosis, compared to two years for those on standard therapy."Pretty convincing.There's some bad news, though:"A nearly 10-month course of therapy costs $94,000"And who knows if it'll be covered under The ObamaTax. Not to mention the new taxes on medical device and other research companies.Kadcyla, we barely knew ya. Original content copyright © InsureBlog
Source: InsureBlog - Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs