5 December 2016 - More breast cancer sufferers will soon have access to a treatment programme that can extend lives by six months or more, but 160 Kiwis who have already started treatment won't be eligible.

PHARMAC announced today it would start funding the drug Perjeta (also known as pertuzumab), which, when used with the already funded drug Herceptin (trastuzumab), significantly improves advanced HER2 positive breast cancer sufferers' prognoses.

Before being publicly funded Perjeta cost Kiwi patients $70,719, the Herald reported last year.

PHARMAC acting chief executive Sarah Fitt said funding both drugs "will go a long way to improving patient outcomes".

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