Breast Cancer Chemotherapy & Targeted Therapy Welfare Fund

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer found in Malaysia. Around 5,000 Malaysian women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, most of them aged between 30 and 60 years, and nearly half of those affected are under 50-years of age.

Chemotherapy is a treatment for breast cancer using anti-cancer (also called cytotoxic) drugs. The aim is to stop cancer cells from continuing to divide uncontrollably. Cancer cells grow by dividing in a disorderly and uncontrolled way. Chemotherapy gets in the form of their ability to share and grow. Different chemotherapy drugs work in different ways and affect the cancer cells to varying phases of their growth. This is why a combination of drugs is often used.

The cost of cancer treatment has been rising in recent year, making them unaffordable for low-income patients. It is difficult for patients who are having financial challenged to start their treatment due to the cost. For others, affording the cost of follow-up care can be a problem after their first treatment. The rising cost may cause some patients to skip or delay their treatment and put their chance of survival in jeopardy.

Under normal circumstances, the cost of chemotherapy treatment can reach up to RM4,000 – RM6,000 per cycle, and patients require 4 – 8 cycles of treatment. Under the Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Welfare Fund program, patients are required to pay about 10% of the charges. Beacon Hospital will subsidize the balance. This CSR program is intended to support the patient’s chemotherapy treatment for pre-selected chemotherapy protocols.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. The management of breast cancer is complex and is usually customized specifically for individual patients. 1 in 5 breast cancer patients is tested positive for Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2 (HER2). HER2 is a protein in the body that promotes the growth of cancer cells aggressively. For breast cancer patients who are HER2 positive, doctors often prescribe a drug called Trastuzumab alongside other treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy & radiotherapy to enhance the outcome of the treatment. This treatment, however, is very costly, and many patients could not afford to pay for it. As a result, some patients choose to go for unproven traditional treatments, which might cause bad outcome and recurrences.

The Targeted Therapy Welfare Fund for Breast Cancer is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program initiated by Beacon Hospital and Roche Malaysia. The objective of this program is to reduce the financial burden of breast cancer patients by enabling them to gain access to targeted therapy (Trastuzumab). Under this program, eligible breast cancer patients are given access to this treatment at a subsidized rate. Patients are only required to pay RM2,500 per cycle for Trastuzumab treatment which is a fraction of the normal charges.