How much will Herceptin really cost?

doi:10.1136/bmj.39052.480231.FA

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The money is already there

Rubin Minhas, general practitioner

¹Sunlight Medical Centre, Gillingham, Kent ME7 1LX anything@rubin.icom43.net

Barrett et al state that “the real cost of Herceptin is in the other patients not treated, whether they are patients with cancer or those with other conditions”—the opportunity cost.1 The competing demands that medical professionals across multiple disciplines place on limited resources and their responsibility to ensure the judicious use of publicly funded resources should also have been acknowledged.

It is too easy to blame the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) when healthcare professionals can enable judicious use of what has already …