At last! Life-extending breast cancer drug offered on NHS
A REVOLUTIONARY breast cancer drug that extends life expectancy is finally to be routinely offered on the NHS.
Up to 1,200 women a year will benefit from Kadcyla, health service boss Simon Stevens said yesterday.
The drug is considered one of the biggest breakthroughs in the last decade and can help terminally ill patients live an average of six months longer.
Some women have lived for more than four years and were able to return to work as there were so few side-effects.
The announcement comes after NHS bosses forced pharmaceutical giant Roche – which made multi-billion pound profits last year – to cut the price.
Normally, a 15-month course of the intravenous treatment would cost £90,000. But Roche is understood to have agreed to a significant discount following pressure from NHS officials and charities.
The charity Breast Cancer Care said the decision was ‘monumental’. It is hoped that similar deals will now be reached over other expensive cancer treatments which are currently banned by the drug rationing body NICE.
Kadcyla – which is administered as a drip every three weeks – benefits women with an aggressive form of breast cancer known as HER2 positive. It is responsible for about one in five of all cases and tumours are notoriously fastgrowing and difficult to treat. The drug works by attaching itself to a protein that can be used by cancer cells to help them grow.
Until now, the treatment had been offered to about 700 women a year as part of the Cancer Drugs Fund, a provisional pot of money to pay for drugs rejected by NICE. It was due to end in three months’ time as the Fund is closing.
Many other women were denied the drug as doctors were often not aware it was available in this way. The price negotiation was largely credited to a petition launched by the charity Breast Cancer Now, which received 115,000 signatures. Its chief executive, Baroness Delyth Morgan, said the decision to offer the drug on the NHS was a ‘landmark decision’.
‘This is exceptionally good news for so many breast cancer patients,’ she said. ‘We are absolutely delighted that tough negotiation and flexibility by NICE and NHS England and the willingness of Roche to compromise on price, have ensured that thousands of women with incurable breast can- cer will be given precious time to live.’ Announcing the deal yesterday, Mr Stevens said there would be ‘concrete gains’ for drug firms ‘who are willing to work with us’ as well as huge benefits for patients and their families.
‘In this case tough negotiation and flexibility between the NHS and Roche means that both patients and taxpayers are getting a good deal,’ he said.
‘NHS cancer survival rates are now at record highs.’
Kadcyla will be offered to women with HER2 positive breast cancer whose tumours have spread to other organs and cannot be removed by surgery. As it has so few side-effects, it can have a huge impact on quality of life. The drug had previously been rejected by NICE as part of draft guidance in December – even though it was routinely available in Scotland and 15 other EU countries including France and Germany.
Gunes Kalkan, of Breast Cancer Care, said: ‘Women and men with incurable breast cancer will be relieved to have irreplaceable moments with loved ones within reach – a graduation, wedding or Christmas celebrations.’