England gets new breast cancer drug – butWales waits

ANOVEL drug that can extend the lives of women with advanced breast cancer has been approved for routine use on the NHS – but not in Wales.

A deal has been struck between NHS England and manufacturer Roche, backed by Nice, to make the drug Kadcyla available to around 1,200 women per year in England.

In clinical trials Kadcyla, which has a full list price of £90,000 per patient, was shown to extend the lives of people with terminal cancer by an average of six months.

It also dramatically improves quality of life, compared with other treatments, and reduces side-effects.

But the Welsh Government says it will only be made available here if an “equivalent pricing package” is agreed by Roche.

A spokeswoman said: “All medicines recommended by Nice are made available in Wales. Our £80m New Treatment Fund has been designed to ensure new medicines such as Kadcyla can be made available as soon as possible and certainly within two months of the recommendation.

“Kadcyla will be available in Wales as soon as Roche, the manufacturer, offers the NHS in Wales an equivalent pricing package to enable Welsh patients to benefit from this treatment.”

Kadycla is for those with HER2positive breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and cannot be removed through surgery.

Women must have also failed on previous treatment, usually Herceptin.

Kadcyla, also called T-DM1, combines Herceptin with a potent chemotherapy agent.

It works by attaching itself to the HER2 receptor on cancer cells, blocking signals that encourage the cancer to grow and spread.

The chemotherapy element also goes inside the cell and causes it to die from within.

Kadcyla is given intravenously once every three weeks.

NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, speaking at the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool, said: “NHS cancer survival rates are now at record highs, and this year we’re going to be making major upgrades to modern radiotherapy treatments in every part of England.

“NHS England is also taking practical action to drive greater value from taxpayers’ growing investment in modern drug treatments, and that work is beginning to bear fruit. Today’s announcement on Kadcyla shows that for companies who are willing to work with us, there are concrete gains for them, for the NHS and most importantly for patients able to get new and innovative drugs.

“In this case, tough negotiation and flexibility between the NHS and Roche means both patients and taxpayers are getting a good deal.”

Details of the new price are being kept confidential.

Richard Erwin, general manager at Roche, said: “This is a positive example of how solutions can be reached when all parties show flexibility.”

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, 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 cancer will be given precious time to live.

“We want to congratulate and thank the hundreds of thousands of women, men and families across the country for their relentless campaigning to ensure this crucial lifeline drug is routinely available to those that need it.”