A “game-changing” new treatment for advanced breast cancer is being made available on the NHS from today.

The drug, which could help more than 1,000 women a year, blocks a protein that drives cancer cells to multiply, helping to slow or stop the spread of the disease.

Known as capivasertib, the drug is designed for use in women with advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive HER2-negative breast cancer with certain genetic abnormalities and mutations that occur in about half of patients with this form of the cancer.

Taken alongside hormonal therapy, the drug has been shown to double how long treatment can stop the cancer cells from progressing; in a trial of 708 women, this combination of treatments doubled the time the cancer took to grow from 3.6 months to 7.2 months. 

It is hoped the new drug could delay the need for chemotherapy and give women with advanced breast cancer more time to spend with their loved ones.

The introduction of this new treatment comes after a U-turn from the medicines watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The drug was approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last year, but NICE requested further analyses after its initial meeting to judge the drug’s effectiveness.

Claire Rowney, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said the charity is “delighted” that the drug has been approved, but said that the time it’s taken to get to this point has led to “unnecessary delays” in patients accessing it.

“This happens too often, and urgent action must be taken to ensure the quick approval of breast cancer drugs so they can be made available promptly to those who need them,” she said. “NHS England must now put in place prompt genetic testing to ensure those eligible receive capivasertib without further delay. The Scottish Medicines Consortium must also consider this treatment at pace now, so that we see it made available to all who need it across the UK.” 

Professor Nicholas Turner, professor of molecular oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and consultant medical oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who led the trial into the drug, added: “This positive NICE recommendation means that thousands of NHS patients with advanced breast cancer with these specific biomarkers can now receive this innovative targeted treatment to keep their cancer from progressing for longer.

“It’s an immensely rewarding moment to see this drug provide patients with a treatment option and precious extra time with their families. It is now crucial that advanced breast cancer patients have their cancer tested to identify those who could benefit from this capivasertib combination.” 

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