B.C. couple paying for cancer treatment says province should offer help to families facing unknown wait
B.C. couple paying for cancer treatment says province should offer help to families facing unknown wait
A Coquitlam, B.C., couple paying out of pocket for cancer treatment is pushing for answers and action from the province while facing an unknown wait for funding approval and a growing expense.
Last week, B.C. Cancer said the funding for a new treatment is under active consideration, but before a decision is made, it’s possible some patients will have to pay.
However, part of the frustration Kari Taylor Atkins and her husband Matthew Atkins are struggling with is that the drug they’re paying for as part of that treatment is already approved in B.C., but they’re only getting 50 per cent covered, leading to an expense of about $1,200 a month.
Taylor Atkins has Stage 4 breast cancer. The disease was discovered to have spread to her liver, bones and brain. She said the new third line of treatment she’s receiving has been making a difference, and she’s been feeling “as well as can be expected”.
“I want to be healthy and happy,” she said Sunday. “And it’s hard when you have that other cloud that is how long can I afford it.”
The new treatment she’s taking involves a combination of three drugs, including one called Herceptin, which has been funded for other types of cancer treatments in B.C. for years.
University of British Columbia clinical professor and oncologist specializing in breast cancer Dr. Joseph Ragaz said the new treatment using Herceptin “looks very promising.”
“That medication (Herceptin) has been around for 20 years, and it’s aimed against patients who have a special gene called HER2,” he said. “Breast cancer patients who have this HER2 positive gene…have more aggressive disease.”
Ragaz said a clinical study led by the Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found the new treatment showed “substantially improved outcomes” for patients.
The international study called HER2CLIMB involved 615 patients in 15 countries. According to the institute, 33 per cent of patients in the group receiving the new drug protocol were alive with no worsening of their disease after a year, compared to 12 per cent in the control group. Among patients whose cancer had spread to the brain, 25 per cent of patients in the new treatment group were alive with no advance of their disease a year later, compared to none in the other group.
The two-year overall survival rate was 45 per cent for patients receiving the new treatment, versus 27 per cent for the control group.
Ragaz said one of the other two drugs, a new medication called Tucatanib, is able to penetrate into the brain more easily and “amplifies” the effect of Herceptin.
He added it didn’t make sense to him that Herceptin would not be covered for Taylor Atkins.
“There’s no reason why she should not be covered for Herceptin. Herceptin is fully approved and covered,” he said. “Funding should not be an issue.”
B.C. Cancer’s provincial medical director for the systemic therapy network, Dr. Helen Anderson, said the new treatment is currently undergoing cost negotiations with the drug companies before a funding decision can be made.
“Obviously everyone in the system is committed to try and get that done as quickly as possible because we recognize that there are people waiting and with cancer you don’t have a long time to wait sometimes,” she said. “If we do fund it as a package, we will make that available to everyone, every patient who will benefit from that in British Columbia.”
Anderson said during the wait for funding approval, it is possible some patients end up paying for treatments.
“There is a gap, “ she said. “And during that time at B.C. Cancer we help people navigate that gap, and then some of the manufacturers do step in and offer drugs through compassionate-access programs.”
Taylor Atkins and Atkins have already tried that avenue for help. The self-employed couple has managed to get the two other drugs in the treatment fully covered by applying for compassionate access, but not Herceptin.
“It doesn’t seem right that in British Columbia we let people die because they can’t afford access to a drug that we have in our publicly funded health care system,” Atkins said. “That’s not right. That’s not what we agreed to when we paid our taxes. That’s not the social contract we have with our leader and with our government and with our health-care system.”
The couple has said their oncologist has even suggested starting an online fundraiser, something they’ve been reluctant to do.
“Having it covered is what’s appropriate,” Taylor Atkins said. “And if you’re not going to do that, help me figure out what the other choices are…the government should at least bear some responsibility to help us figure out what is our next step.”
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
In a choice forced upon them by the Canadian government, four mothers have made the agonizing decision to forfeit an opportunity to repatriate their children from open air prisons in northeast Syria.
Statistics Canada has released its new report about the Canadians level of confidence in Canada’s institutions, finding that recent immigrants are more likely to express confidence in the media and parliament.
A new Canadian study of 4.8 million people says a daily alcoholic drink isn't likely to send anyone to an early grave, nor will it offer any of the health benefits touted by previous studies, even if it is organic red wine.
Lawyers representing Toronto MP Han Dong served Global News with a libel notice on Friday over reports that alleged he spoke to a Chinese diplomat in February 2021 about delaying the release of the two Michaels, and that he was a 'witting affiliate' of Chinese interference networks – allegations that Dong denies.
A recent report from Royal LePage is predicting a drop in prices for Canadian cabins and cottages this year as demand softens from economic uncertainty and low housing stock.
Interim RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme says he would support the Criminal Code changes recommended in the Mass Casualty Commission report to implement stricter gun laws.
A Vancouver Island woman managed to capture something on video last Sunday that experts say is extremely rare. Maxine Gillette calls it a once in a lifetime experience.
A Vancouver Island musician and former church pastor will serve three months of house arrest, followed by 18 months of probation, after he was convicted of one count of sexual assault.
In one day, Ontario midwife Manavi Handa saw three patients who will have to pay thousands of dollars to be able to schedule a C-section beginning on Sunday.
Akwesasne Mohawk Police say they are working with Immigration Canada and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to confirm the identities of the eight migrants whose bodies were pulled from the St. Lawrence River this week.
Montreal's seasonal parking restrictions go into effect Saturday. As of April 1, parking will be limited during certain hours to make way for street cleaning and maintenance operations. Drivers should pay close attention to street signs to determine when and where it's safe to park.
In an attempt to take pressure off hospital emergency rooms, the Saskatchewan government will offer a bump in pay for family doctors who work later hours.
Kevin Garinger says it feels like the passage of time is inexplicable. The five years since a deadly bus crash changed his city, his hockey team and his life sometimes feel like a lifetime. Other times it feels like yesterday.
The sale has started of former Saskatchewan government liquor store buildings. The province got out of liquor retailing earlier this month and is disposing of all assets.
In an attempt to take pressure off hospital emergency rooms, the Saskatchewan government will offer a bump in pay for family doctors who work later hours.
After the RCMP commissioner admitted he didn't read the Mass Casualty Commission’s final recommendations, family members of those killed in the April 2020 tragedy say they have doubts the force will change.
A doctor named in a lawsuit after a Nova Scotia woman died in hospital following a long wait to see a physician has denied allegations from the family that he failed in his duties.
London police responded to Dundas Street, just west of William Street around 6:30 p.m. Friday evening for a reported shooting. According to police, one person is in custody.
A U.S. citizen charged with threatening death or bodily harm to Justin Trudeau made a virtual court appearance from a London jail Friday. Jeremy Joseph, 40 — who is living in Sarnia, Ont. — was arrested on Feb. 4, 2023 after Sarnia police were notified of emails containing threats.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is investigating after a man was seriously injured while attempting to flee from OPP on Highway 401 Thursday afternoon.
A northern Ontario man has been banned from licenced hunting and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to having more than six times the legal limit of grouse and obstructing conservation officers.
Ontario's guns and gangs team says with the help of police in Sudbury and Durham, it has disrupted a large drug trafficking operation, seizing 2.7 kilograms of cocaine and arresting six.
