Cheap treatment of breast cancer, 65% reduced the price of new medicine

Read Time:1 Minute, 39 Second

WHO has announced a new drug for the treatment of breast cancer. This will make it possible for women around the world to get cheaper treatment to get rid of this disease. The name of this medicine is trastuzumab. It is a biosimilar drug. This means that it is made from living sources such as cells and not from any chemical. Its price will also be 65% less than the normal medicine.

Affordable and effective treatment right to every woman
According to a media report, this drug is very effective in fighting first stage cancer. Also, it has been seen in some cases that this drug has proved to be quite useful in advanced stage breast cancer. WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus says, ‘WHO drug trastuzumab is good news for women around the world because treatment is expensive due to expensive medicines in poor countries. Affordable and effective treatment is the right of every woman. ‘

This is the first drug WHO has prequalified,
although there are already many biosimilar versions of the trastuzumab drug in the market, but this is the first drug WHO has prequalified. In this whole process, the quality, safety of medicine and other health products and how effective they are is examined. When a drug or health product is prequalified by the WHO, it is available for purchase on the WHO website.

Around 21 lakh women suffered breast cancer in 2018
Trastuzumab was included in the WHO’s Essential Medicine list in 2015 and is used as essential treatment in about 20 percent of breast cancer treatments. In the year 2018, about 21 lakh women had breast cancer, out of which about 6 lakh 30 thousand women died due to late diagnosis and expensive treatment of the disease. According to the WHO, by the year 2040, more than 31 lakh women will be suffering from breast cancer and there will be more number of patients especially in low and middle income countries.