'Breakthrough' cancer test not to be offered to public patients

A new test hailed by breast cancer experts as a medical breakthrough won't be offered to public patients because of the costs involved, it has been reported.

The test - known as Oncotype DX - costs over €3,000 to to carry out and is currently only available to private patients.

It is suitable for women battling early stage cancer and means debilitating chemotherapy treatment could be avoided in some cases.

Tdoay's Sunday Business Post reported that the recommendation not to offer the test to public patients came from the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, which cited price as its main reason.