Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Now, Baroness Delyth Morgan, has commented on NICE'S decision to approve trastuzumab deruxtecan for use on the Cancer Drugs Fund.
STARTS
Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Now, Baroness Delyth Morgan, said:
Today’s approval of trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) for use on the Cancer Drugs Fund1 is fantastic news for certain patients with HER2 positive incurable secondary breast cancer, who desperately need new effective treatments2.
This targeted treatment can significantly slow the spread of the disease compared to the current standard treatment3, giving people more time to continue doing the things that matter to them.
Crucially, this treatment brings people living with incurable secondary breast cancer the hope of more time to live, and we look forward to further results demonstrating its full potential.
This decision highlights the continued importance of the Cancer Drugs Fund in enabling promising treatments to reach patients on the NHS quickly and it shows what is possible when NHS England, NICE and the pharmaceutical industry work together.
Now, the drug company and the Scottish Medicines Consortium must work quickly to ensure women in Scotland have the chance to benefit too.
Anyone affected by breast cancer can speak to Breast Cancer Now’s expert nurses by calling our free Helpline on 0808 800 6000 for information and support.
Notes to editors
- The Cancer Drugs Fund enables NICE to conditionally approve promising treatments whilst more data is collected. Following this period of data collection, NICE will reconsider the treatment and make a decision on whether it can be routinely approved for use on the NHS in England.
- Trastuzumab deruxtecan is approved as an option for treating HER2 positive unresectable (cannot be removed by surgery) or secondary breast cancer after 1 or more anti-HER2 treatments.
- Trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) was compared to trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) in the DESTINY-Breast03 trial.