The Ministry of Labour Health and Social Affairs of Georgia will finance the cost of treatment for patients with early stage breast cancer in Georgia’s regions.
Today, Georgia’s Health Minister David Sergeenko announced the Government will subsidise 80 percent of the cost of Herceptin, a targeted therapy for breast cancer, for cancer patients living in Georgia’s regions.
The medication, spanning one year’s treatment, will be distributed to patients in Georgia’s regions this month.
A one-year course of Herceptin treatment cost about 50,000 GEL.
With the 80 percent subsidy, patients will only be required to pay 7,000 GEL. Cancer patients with low incomes will receive "additional benefits”, promised Sergeenko.
Breast cancer was the main cause of death among female oncology patients in Georgia, said Georgia’s Health Ministry.
More specifically, 20-25 percent of breast cancer patients suffered from the most aggressive HER2-positive form of the disease. Herceptin was targeted exactly for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.
Earlier this month Tbilisi City Hall allocated three million GEL for a program to treat patients with early stage breast cancer in Georgia's capital Tbilisi. The city’s Mayor Davit Narmania revealed the aim of the initiative was to reduce treatment costs for breast cancer patients.
Over the course of one-year treatment (13 vials of Herceptin), socially vulnerable people in the capital will be eligible to receive 35,000 GEL (about $14,056 USD) while the remainder will be eligible to receive 20,080 GEL ($8,064 USD) financial assistance.
The Tbilisi Mayor said early treatment of breast cancer decreased the risk of relapse by 40-45 percent.