New classification system for breast cancer..."Looking for optimized treatment".

[Anchor]
Breast cancer accounts for the largest proportion of cancer experienced by women in Korea.

Recently, a new classification system for breast cancer types and appropriate treatments have been identified, raising expectations for patients.

It is a situation where the cost burden is high because it is not yet included in the insurance process.

Reporter Kim Joo-young reports.

[Reporter]
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Korea, and one in five female cancer patients is breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer also has several classification methods, and it is typical to classify cancer cells according to whether they have a gene called HER2.

In the past, if there were many Hutu genes, they were classified as positive, and if not, they were classified as negative. If it did not meet certain criteria, it was called "low expression" and treated with negative patients.

[Kim Ji-yeon / Professor of Hematologic Oncology at Samsung Seoul Hospital: Even if there was hypoventilation of Hutu, Hutu was not subject to treatment, but was treated separately as hormone receptor-positive breast cancer or triple negative breast cancer.]

However, it has been found that treatments recently developed for positive patients are effective in low-expression patients.

Moon, in his 50s, who started with breast cancer and spread to the stomach, is also classified as a low-expression patient and has changed his treatment method and is working effectively.

[Mr. Moon / Low-expression breast cancer patient] I'm in such a good condition right now. I go to the mountain every day to exercise....]

In fact, a study found that when the treatment is used for low-expression patients, the "progress-free survival period" of survival without progression reaches 10 months.

The expected effect is greater in that half of all breast cancer patients are estimated to be low-expression patients.

The problem is the burdensome cost.

Insurance benefits are not applied to low-expression patients, so the cost of medicine alone is nearly 50 million won a year.

[Mr. Moon / Low expression breast cancer patient: People in their 50s are supposed to be the most active, but they can't do economic activities, and the cost of treatment is paid by credit card every three weeks....]

More than 50,000 people agreed to the National Assembly's petition to allow low-expression patients to pay for the drug, and are set to discuss the standing committee under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly.

However, it is unclear when the government's final decision on payroll will be possible.

I'm Kim Joo-young of YTN.