The first batch of free Herceptin arrived in Malta yesterday and is expected to provide respite in different forms to the women who need the treatment urgently.
"It's a Christmas present," one of the women said. There are three women who are already taking the drug and need to keep taking it every three weeks without fail.
The young mother, who would rather not have her name printed, had to mortgage her house to get the thousands of euros needed to cover the treatment, which she started in the first months of the year.
Dubbed the miracle drug, Herceptin, also called trastuzumab, is used to treat HER2 positive breast cancer after treatment with other drugs is not effective. In October, the government promised to provide Herceptin for free to patients who need this treatment. Each patient will need about 55 doses a year.
Each vial of the expensive but potentially life-saving drug, 20 of which arrived in Malta yesterday, costs €535 but some women need several vials every three weeks.
"You live from one treatment to the next, not knowing where you will be getting the money from for the next dosage. The stress has an impact on your health and, in fact, my blood pressure skyrocketed, adding to my health problems," the patient said.
Every three weeks she had to fork out just under €2,500, which was only made possible after taking out a bank loan, something which also did not come easy. Although the Malta Community Chest Fund paid for half of the treatment, she was only given the money on showing receipts, after having paid for the drug.
"I have met women who need the drug but simply cannot afford it and so are doing without. When I was very ill, and thought that I would not make it, I was adamant to continue fighting for the treatment to be given to women for free because I do not want others to go through the same fate."
For 48-year-old Vivienne Mifsud, the fact that Herceptin is being made available for women on the NHS is marvellous news, even though she had to fork out the money for her year-long treatment, which ended in November last year.
"It is bad enough to be dealing with breast cancer but the shock of having to pay for the treatment is unbearable. I cried for three days when I got to know that I had to pay for the treatment," she said. The mother of one was given an exorbitant price tag of some €40,000, half of which was paid for by the Community Chest Fund.
"There are women who sell their belongings to pay for their treatment. Nobody should be made to go through that. People have the right to get better," she said.
Just over 200 vials of Herceptin were ordered as a stopgap solution for women who cannot wait until next year when the drug will be available for free. Health Parliamentary Secretary Joe Cassar had said that the government would be spending a one-time amount of €122,000 over and above the €1.3 million a year it would allocate as from 2009.
Yesterday, the Health Division said the first 20 vials of the drug arrived at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital for the women who urgently need to take it.
Moreover, a call for tenders for the supply of 2,200 vials of Herceptin every year has now closed and the adjudication process is expected to start soon.
Herceptin, which reduces the risk of death, only works on about 25 per cent of breast cancer patients who have tumours classed as HER2 positive, an aggressive form of cancer.
Stephen Brincat, chairman of Boffa Hospital's Oncology Department, said that about 40 women are expected to use the drug every year. He said the drug is very useful for women suffering from HER2 positive tumours. The drug does not carry the side effects usually associated with chemotherapy.
Esther Sant, co-founder of the Action for Breast Cancer Foundation, welcomed the news that the first batch of drugs have arrived, saying that this will help alleviate the financial burden on sufferers.