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.’
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?
What is breast cancer?
It comes from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.
When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding tissue it is called ‘invasive’. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.
Most cases develop in those over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, though this is rare.
Staging indicates how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.
What causes breast cancer?
A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.
Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance, such as genetics.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign.
The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
- Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
- Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.
If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest X-ray.
How is breast cancer treated?
Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.
- Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
- Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focused on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops them from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
- Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying.
- Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.
How successful is treatment?
The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.
The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 70 means more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
For more information visit breastcancernow.org or call its free helpline on 0808 800 6000
Source: Mail Online
