NHS to provide ‘life-saving’ drug for rare breast cancer

WOMEN with an aggressive form of breast cancer will benefit from a potentially “life-saving” drug on the NHS.

About 1,600 patients in England with triple-negative breast cancer will be offered pembrolizumab after officials struck a confidential deal with the manufacturer. Research suggests that taking the immunotherapy along with chemotherapy before surgery, then continuing with pembrolizumab alone after surgery, increases the chance of eradicating the cancer.

Breast Cancer Now welcomed the news and said women with this type of cancer previously faced the “frightening reality of limited treatment options”.

Triple-negative breast cancer is less common but a more aggressive type of the condition. It accounts for about 15 per cent of all breast cancer cases, and is more common among younger patients, black women and those with a specific mutation of the BRCA1 gene.

A quarter of all breast cancer deaths are attributable to triple-negative breast cancer. Final draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence states that certain patients in England should be eligible for the drug, which is also known as Keytruda and made by MSD.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said: “This new treatment can potentially lead to any detectable cancer disappearing by the time of surgery, meaning patients will then possibly face less invasive, breast-conserving surgery.”

Earlier this year, the drug was made available to about 100 women a year with advanced triple-negative breast cancer. Today’s announcement means hundreds more will be able to access the drug and increases the chance of stopping the cancer progression and creating the possibility of long-term, cancer-free survival for patients.

The NHS in England said that it has already struck a deal with the manufacturer so it can get the drug to patients as soon as possible.