A WYRE Forest Primary Care Trust working panel will look into whether funding for a breast cancer drug for individual patients in the district should be approved.

Although encouraging results using Herceptin in the treatment of early stage breast cancer have been reported, it is not licensed in England for the purpose and is still subject to appraisal by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - NICE.

In a report to the Wyre Forest PCT board, acting chief executive, Eamon Kelly, said the PCT was using its complex case panel to make the decision and one request for funding was considered and approved in October.

He added further requests had now been received from consultant oncologists and would be subject to the same process. Each application is assessed on a case by case basis.