New Fertility Hope For Chemo Patients

From this weekend's New York Times:

A commonly used drug can help young women with breast cancer retain the ability to have babies, apparently protecting their ovariesfrom the damage caused by chemotherapy, researchers reported here on Friday.

The treatment could provide a new option for dealing with one of the painful dilemmas faced by young cancer patients — that doing the utmost to save their lives might impair or even ruin their fertility. Researchers said the drug, goserelin, which temporarily shuts down the ovaries, appears to protect women from the more permanent premature menopause that can be induced by chemotherapy. In a clinical trial, women who were given goserelin injections along with chemotherapy had less ovarian failure and gave birth to more babies than women receiving only the chemotherapy.

“Premenopausal women beginning chemotherapy for early breast cancer should consider this new option to prevent premature ovarian death,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Halle Moore of the Cleveland Clinic, said at a news conference here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

This is wonderful news indeed for many young women awaiting chemotherapy. There is one catch, however. On the GoodRx website, Zoladex (Goserelin) is listed as:

This drug is considered a specialty medication, which means:

It is very expensive. A typical fill can cost $1,326 or more for 1 kit of Zoladex 10.8mg.

Patients in need of this drug will usually find most of the cost paid by an insurance company, government or non profit organization. If you are uninsured or need help with your co-pay, the manufacturer may also offer assistance.

Most retail pharmacies will not stock this medication. The manufacturer may offer more information on how to fill this prescription.

Physicians and patients considering this therapy as always should do some homework first.

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