§ Ms PerhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate (1) how many additional patients per month could benefit from taxanes for the treatment of breast cancer in the NHS; [122470]
507W(2) how many additional lives would be saved per month through use of taxanes to treat all breast cancer patients in the NHS who could benefit from it. [122471]
§ Yvette CooperAbout 35,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and of these between 6,000 and 9,000 will progress to advanced cancer. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence has been asked to review the evidence for the clinical and cost effectiveness of the two taxane drugs (Taxol and Taxotere) in advanced breast cancer, and it would be wrong to pre-empt its advice.