Women in England with breast cancer may qualify for drug that buys ‘precious’ time

Women with advanced breast cancer in England will be able to benefit from a new type of immunotherapy after a U-turn by the medicines watchdog.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has overturned its draft rejection of Keytruda and said women in England can take the drug in combination with chemotherapy.

Patients with triple negative breast cancer can use the drug. The goal is to buy women extra time to slow the progression of the disease.

Delyth Morgan, the chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said the move was fantastic news for patients with the disease. The new immunotherapy has a median overall survival of 23 months.

The reversal of this decision now brings hope to eligible women for whom it could bring precious additional time before their disease progresses and more months to live and spend time with loved ones.

Women with triple negative breast cancer who have a combined positive score greater than or equal to 10 can be treated with Keytruda. If surgery is not possible to remove the tumours, they can be treated.

The manufacturer proposed that the drug combination should only be used for people with tumors that have a greater than or equal to 10CPS. Nice was able to look again and pass the drug, which helps the patient's own immune cells to attack cancer.

Helen Knight, the interim director of medicines evaluation at Nice, said that the company has been able to work with them to find solutions to the issues highlighted in their previous draft guidance. The new option that people who were not able to access atezolizumab now have, can help them live longer and spend more time with their loved ones.

The maximum number of people with advanced triple negative breast cancer now have access to effective treatments, because our recommendation is for a narrower population than pembrolizumab combination is licensed for.

Morgan said she hoped women with advanced breast cancer would soon be able to benefit from more options.

A survey of 1,007 women with breast cancer found that 45% said the disease negatively affected their body image and 25% said the same for their sense of identity.

37% said their diagnosis worsened their mental health and self-esteem.