Breast cancer test gets green light after drug firm cuts cost

A POTENTIALLY life-saving breast cancer test, which the HSE initially said did not represent value for money, has been given the green light by the state after the drug firm involved significantly lowered the cost.

A decision on the Oncotype DX test was delayed in August after the HSE’s National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics said the taxpayer could not afford to make it available.

While the centre’s statement was one of only three parts of an overall decision on the product, it meant there was serious doubt over whether the test would be publicly available. This led advocacy groups to say the HSE was putting budgets before patients’ needs.