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Thousands sign breast cancer drug petition
['Kate Green Of Rnz']
Otago Daily Times Online News
A petition asking for cancer drug Keytruda to be funded for early-stage breast cancer has received more than 17,000 signatures.
Triple negative breast cancer is a sub-type of breast cancer which lacks the receptors for hormones or HER2 protein found in other breast cancers, affecting about 10% of New Zealand woman diagnosed.
Keytruda is funded for early-stage triple negative breast cancer in more than 40 countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.
"I mean, yes, I'm alive and I'm grateful.
In 2007, Wikeepa was among a group who took a case to the High Court to get Herceptin funded for HER2-positive breast cancer, helping about 600 women each year.