An urgent warning has been made to health officials and pharmaceutical companies to work together to make a life-extending drug available to thousands of women with incurable breast cancer . Experts from Breast Cancer Now said that women’s lives “will be cut short” with further delays as they called for Enhertu to be made available to women in England with a certain type of breast cancer as swiftly as possible. In March it was announced that the treatment was blocked for widespread NHS use for women with HER2-low incurable secondary breast cancer due to price issues.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said the cost the NHS was being asked to pay for trastuzumab deruxtecan – sold under the brand name Enhertu – was “too high” in relation to its benefits. A quarter of a million people signed a petition calling for an “urgent solution” to get the treatment to women living with secondary breast cancer as soon as possible. Enhertu is the first licensed targeted treatment for patients with HER2-low breast cancer that cannot be removed surgically or that has spread to other parts of the body, also known as metastatic breast cancer.
Breast Cancer Now said that the drugs offer women six more months to live. Women with HER2-low incurable secondary disease in Scotland currently have access to the drug, while others across the UK do not, the charity said. Had Nice recommended the treatment, about 1,000 patients a year would have been eligible.
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