"Two new analyses of two new breast cancer drugs found that they are indeed worth what you pay for them. "

"The aromatase inhibitor Aromasin (exemestane) and the monoclonal antibody Herceptin (trastuzumab) have already been proven in clinical trials to improve survival. "

"As new breast cancer drugs exit the pipeline and enter the market, the U.S. health-care system, including the insurance companies or governments paying for therapy, want to know if the drugs are economically, as well as clinically, viable. And new drugs are almost always more expensive compared to the usual standards. "

""This is always important to do when you have a drug or a procedure or intervention that is expensive compared to standard care," said Nicole Mittmann, senior author of the Aromasin study, and a scientist with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Toronto. "The clinical data still drives the decision to use the medication, and this is another piece of the puzzle in the decision-making process." "

"Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology with Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La., said, "The clinical research trials we've done in the last 50 years have been spectacular, and we know how good or how not good our treatments are, and because of the excellent clinical research that's been done, we can then ask ourselves can we afford these treatments."

""These two studies involving Herceptin and Aromasin clearly show that doing these two maneuvers are very, very cost effective in certain subgroups of women with breast cancer. When insurance companies come to you and ask why are you doing this, you have excellent studies to back them up," he added."

"A large clinical study had already shown that women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer who switched from tamoxifen to Aromasin after two to three years lived longer than women who took tamoxifen continuously for five years. "

"But aromatase inhibitors are more expensive than tamoxifen, which has been around
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