A drug being denied to thousands of women with incurable breast cancer could boost survival time by more than a third, new research suggests.
The latest trial results found Enhertu slashed the chances of terminal breast cancer growing or spreading by 38 per cent compared to standard chemotherapy.
Charities and campaigners said the new findings add to the sense of ‘betrayal and disbelief’ that they cannot get it on the NHS in England when it is available in Scotland.
It follows a decision by NICE in March to deny the ‘wonder drug’ on cost grounds using new criteria which does not class all terminal cancers as ‘severe’.
Women with HER2-low or ultralow breast cancer lived without their cancer growing for an average of 13.2 months, compared to just 8.1 months among those who had chemotherapy.
Sophie Blake, 51, from Brighton, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2020 before being told it had spread elsewhere, including to her lungs and liver in May 2022.
Sophie, pictured with her daughter Maya, 17, a student at music college, said: ‘I want to watch my daughter go to university, get married and have children, Enhertu could make that difference to women.’
Survival rates after 12 months were 87 per cent compared to 81.1 per cent respectively, according to the study of almost 900 women.
The trial, presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference, revealed the equivalent of six in 10 patients responded to treatment from Enhertu – twice as many as chemotherapy.
The findings build on previous studies that found the treatment improved overall survival rates by more than six months.
Patients said they were being forced to spend their final months or years fighting for access to a drug available in 13 other European countries, as well as the US and Canada.
Sophie Blake, 51, from Brighton, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2020 before being told it had spread elsewhere, including to her lungs and liver in May 2022.
Although the former television presenter’s cancer is currently under control, this would be a last line of treatment when needed.
She said: ‘This is yet more evidence of the precious extra time this treatment could give us.
‘When we’re so limited with what options are available, it’s particularly devastating.
‘We know women in Scotland whose lives it’s changed, it’s not that it just gives you an extension, it’s also the quality of life.
‘To us, these wonder drugs are everything — I want to watch my daughter go to university, get married and have children, Enhertu could make that difference to women.
‘We’re mums, we’re sisters, we’re daughters, we’re workers, we contribute to society yet we’re being old our lives aren’t considered cost effective.
‘The most frustrating thing is that we know it’s there – they just won’t give it to us.
‘When we should be enjoying the time left with our friends and family, it feels like we’re having to spend it fighting for our right to life.’
Patients said they were being forced to spend their final months or years fighting for access to a drug available in 13 other European countries, as well as the US and Canada.
Known as trastuzumab deruxtecan, it is the first licensed targeted treatment for patients with a type of cancer, known as HER2-low, which cannot be removed surgically or that has spread.
While Enhertu has been licensed for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer in England, access for those with lower levels of the protein has been denied, despite results showing it is similarly effective.
Around 1,000 women each year in England could benefit from the drug, which patients described as ‘the last roll of the dice’.
Dr Giuseppe Curiglian, a professor of medical oncology at the University of Milan and author of the latest findings, said the drug ‘could become the new standard of care’ for the disease.
He said: ‘Participants that received trastuzumab deruxtecan lived longer without their disease progressing or causing death,’ he said, adding that the trial showed for the first time the benefits in patients with HER2-ultralow and those who had never had chemotherapy.’
A petition by Breast Cancer Now has more than 260,000 signatures calling for it to be made available to these women.
Dr Simon Vincent, director of research at Breast Cancer Now, said it was ‘utterly unacceptable’ that thousands of women were ‘being denied access’.
He said: ‘This promising study suggests even more people could potentially benefit from Enhertu.
‘Yet, despite this mounting clinical data emerging around the clear benefit Enhertu could bring patients, thousands of people with HER2-low secondary breast cancer are being denied access to Enhertu on the NHS in England, and this is utterly unacceptable.’
‘These people are desperately counting on NICE, NHS England, Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca to find a solution in their current talks and to urgently make this treatment available for them.’
A spokesman for NICE said it was ‘extremely disappointed’ not to be able to recommend Enhertu for advanced HER2-low breast cancer on cost grounds, adding that it had ‘paused’ guidance.
Health officials said discussions with Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca were continuing but said at a meeting last month, the drug’s makers had increased the price proposal for the drug.
He said: ‘As we made clear during our oral evidence session to the recent Health Select Committee, a price making it a cost-effective use of NHS resources being offered by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca could resolve this issue almost immediately.
‘That is the fastest and only guaranteed way of ensuring women get access to this treatment without further delay.’
Source: Mail Online