A QUARTER of a million people have joined a campaign for a breakthrough breast cancer drug to be given to women denied it on the NHS. More than 250,000 have signed Breast Cancer Now’s petition to overturn a medical watchdog ruling on Enhertu. It was refused for women with incurable cancer that has spread, despite evidence it can add six months or more to their lives and the fact it is offered on the Scottish NHS.
England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said the drug was not good enough value for money . It is marketed at around £10,000 per patient per month and the NHS negotiated a lower price, but it was still deemed too much. Breast Cancer Now estimates 1,000 women per year in England could benefit.
These women deserve the hope of more time to live Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief of the charity, said there is a “crucial window” to campaign before a final decision is made. She added: “This must happen urgently or women’s lives will tragically be cut short .” The charity and the pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, said Nice’s new decision-making process is flawed.
Enhertu, full name trastuzumab deruxtecan, targets a specific type of cancer called HER2-low. LOOSE Women star Nadia Sawalha took the campaign for Enhertu to Parliament in March to help her friend, Hannah Gardner, who is living with incurable breast cancer at the age of just 37. Nadia told Sun Health: "While Nice is still thinking, cancer cells are multiplying.
