UK approves 'landmark' breast cancer drug

A new drug that helps slow the spread of an incurable type of breast cancer has been approved for use in Britain's state-run National Health Service, officials said on Friday.

Scientists described the approval of capivasertib by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a "landmark moment".

More than 1,000 women with the HR-positive HER2-negative type of the disease could benefit from taking the twice-daily pill every year, NICE said.

The drug, also known as Truqap and made by British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, helps slow or stop the progression of the cancer, meaning it could help some patients live longer.

"People with advanced breast cancer would value treatments like capivasertib that can be given when limited options exist and because it may delay the need for chemotherapy and its associated side-effects," said NICE's director of medicines evaluation, Helen Knight.

The advanced type of the breast cancer has certain genetic mutations and spreads within the breast tissue or to other parts of the body.

The pill works by blocking the action of an abnormal protein that tells cancer cells to multiply.

Results from a clinical trial found that capivasertib plus the hormone therapy fulvestrant increased the time before the cancer worsened by around 4.2 months compared with a placebo and fulvestrant.

The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London welcomed the move, which follows decades of research by its scientists.

"This announcement is a triumph that will improve treatment for these patients with the most common type of advanced breast cancer," said ICR's chief executive Kristian Helin.

"Around half of patients with this kind of breast cancer have mutations in one or more of the genes, and for these patients capivasertib can halt disease progression."

NICE said 40,192 people were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, almost 15 percent of whom had advanced stages of the disease when they were diagnosed.