After striking a deal with the manufacturer of a potentially life-saving drug, women with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer have been given access to it.
Up to 1,600 women a year will be able to get pembrolizumab, which has the potential to leave some people without cancer.
Women with triple negative breast cancer will be the first to benefit from the drug. Women with triple negative breast cancer have a shorter survival time than women with other forms of the disease and it is a particularly common form in women under 40.
The roll out of an innovative, potentially life-saving treatment for one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer is a huge moment for women, according to the chief executive of the National Health Service.
She said it would give hope to those who are diagnosed and prevent the cancer from progressing.
The final draft guidance for the drug was approved by the National Institute of Health and Care excellence after successful negotiations with the manufacturer of the drug.
The health watchdog has given the go-ahead for the drug to be used in combination with chemotherapy to shrink a breast tumours before surgery, or on its own, for people with triple negative early breast cancer.
According to Delyth Morgan, the chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Now, this new treatment can potentially lead to any detected cancer disappearing by the time of surgery.
By reducing the likelihood of breast cancer recurring or spreading to other parts of the body, this treatment brings hope of more lives being saved from this devastating disease.
Nice said that the drug is a lifesaver. One in four deaths from breast cancer are related to it.
Adding pembrolizumab to Chemo before surgery increases the chance that the cancer will disappear, according to clinical trial evidence. Nice said that it increases the time before any cancer arises.
It's not clear if pembrolizumab increases lifespan.
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The scarcity of proven treatments and triple negative breast cancer's higher risk of recurrence helped persuade Nice to approve it.
Clinical trials in Britain have shown that the drug works. Lauren Sirey, a nurse with the National Health Service, received it as part of a trial at Barts Health trust in London and has been cancer-free for almost five years.
I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer four months before my wedding. She said she was offered the chance to participate in a clinical trial and was happy to hear that the treatment had been approved for use in the National Health Service.
I am nearing my five-year all-clear, thanks to the treatment I received.
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