Jab to halt breast cancer rejected by NHS watchdog
A MONTHLY injection that halts the course of breast cancer is set to be rejected by health officials.
NHS rationing watchdog NICE today publishes a draft decision rejecting the use of cancer drug fulvestrant.
Officials accept that the £7,900-a-year therapy pauses the growth of a certain form of breast cancer for three months longer than existing treatments. But they insisted there was no evidence that this would save lives.
The watchdog may reverse its decision when it publishes its final guidance later this year. If it does so, 1,200 women in England with advanced oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer would benefit each year.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Now, said: ‘This is very disappointing news. New options for women with this type of breast cancer are long overdue, and, while fulvestrant’s ultimate survival benefit remains uncertain, it offers a valuable advance in treatment.
‘ Fulvestrant can give some women nearly three extra months before their breast cancer progresses compared to the standard treatment of aromatase inhibitors, often with only mild side effects. Crucially, it can also delay the need for some women to begin chemotherapy, time which can be so important to many. But unfortunately fulvestrant finds itself in a position where it cannot win.’
The drug is used to treat post-menopausal women who have not already had treatment with other hormone therapies such as tamoxifen. The NICE committee concluded it was too early to say from the available evidence if the drug leads to an increase in overall survival.
Fulvestrant works by blocking the action of the hormone oestrogen, stopping its ability to help breast cancers grow.
Given by injection once a month, most women take it for two years, putting the average cost of a course of treatment at £15,841. Professor Carole Longson, director of the centre for health technology evaluation at NICE, said: ‘NICE has to ensure that the NHS provides treatments that bring benefits which are value for money.
‘As fulvestrant has not been shown to be cost- effective, we can’t justify diverting NHS funds from other areas of healthcare in order to fund its use.’
A spokesman for British drugs firm AstraZeneca, which makes fulvestrant, said: ‘AstraZeneca believes fulvestrant is a significant therapy option for this group of patients who present with advanced disease, who for a variety of reasons have not been diagnosed or received treatment with hormonal therapy for breast cancer previously.
‘AstraZeneca is disappointed with this initial draft guidance and will continue the dialogue with NICE to enable this treatment option to be made available for this important group of patients.’