Two new breast cancer drugs now available on NHS England after U-turn (2024)

On July 14th 2022, an article from The Guardian described the announcement that two new breast cancer drugs are now available.

The two new drugs, Alpelisib (also known as Piqray) and Trodelvy (also called Sacituzumab Govitecan) are finally now available on NHS England, after previously being rejected earlier on this year.

Around 3,500 women with incurable secondary breast cancers will now benefit from these life-extending drugs after being approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Alpelisib, when used with a hormone therapy called Fulvestrant, targets the gene that causes fast growing tumours, by blocking the gene’s ability to help cancer cells to survive and ultimately grow. A previous study showed that half of those who received the treatment were able to stop the growth of their cancer for six months.

Trodelvy will be used to treat breast cancer that cannot be removed surgically. This will be of great news to women with incurable Triple Negative Breast Cancer. The treatment will target a protein on the surface of the tumour cells, which eventually will cause them to die. Clinical trials have shown a person’s life can be extended by about five months by slowing down the progression of the disease.

Even though neither drug will sadly cure patients of their advanced breast cancer, their lives will be extended and will be of a better quality, giving them more precious time with their loved ones.

We asked Dr Sacha Howell, Senior Clinical Lecturer andone of our experts, for his thoughts:

For Alpelisib, the approval offers a valuable new approach to treatment for patients with cancers that have the PIK3CA mutation. The genetic test for this mutation in advanced breast cancers was also recently approved on the national genomics test directory and is freely available to all women with oestrogen receptor positive Her2 negative breast cancer. If the mutation is identified then Alpelisib, in combination with the anti-oestrogen Fulvestrant, offers approximately 6 months delay in cancer progression and the requirement for chemotherapy. The side effects of Alpelisib treatment require careful management but overall quality of life did not deteriorate significantly with this combination, and it represents a valuable new tool in the fight against stage 4 breast cancer.

Trodelvy (Sacituzumab Govitecan) is an exciting new drug used to treat advanced triple negative breast cancer. Trodelvy is a class of drug called an antibody-drug conjugate, meaning that an antibody that recognises a protein expressed on 90% of TNBC (TROP2) is bound to a potent chemotherapy agent which is then delivered directly to the cancer cells. The advantage of this approach is that patients experience far fewer side effects than would be experienced if the same chemotherapy was delivered on its own. Trodelvy, used after at least two standard types of chemotherapy showed impressive activity in inducing cancer shrinkage, prolonging cancer control and most importantly doubling the length of time patients stayed alive. Treatment is generally well tolerated and this approval is excellent news for patients with difficult to treat, advanced Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

You can read NICE’s announcement here, and the full article from The Guardian here.

About Prevent Breast Cancer

Prevent Breast Cancer is the only UK charity entirely dedicated to the prediction and prevention of breast cancer – we’re committed to freeing the world from the disease altogether. Unlike many cancer charities, we’re focused on preventing, rather than curing. Promoting early diagnosis, screening and lifestyle changes, we believe we can stop the problem before it starts. And being situated at the only breast cancer prevention centre in the UK, we’re right at the front-line in the fight against the disease. Join us today and help us create a future free from breast cancer. If you have any questions or concerns, email us today.

Published On: July 21st, 2022 /

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Two new breast cancer drugs now available on NHS England after U-turn (2024)

FAQs

Two new breast cancer drugs now available on NHS England after U-turn? ›

The two new drugs, Alpelisib (also known as Piqray) and Trodelvy (also called Sacituzumab Govitecan) are finally now available on NHS England, after previously being rejected earlier on this year.

What is the new NHS breast cancer drug? ›

A targeted drug for advanced breast cancers

Talazoparib is recommended for advanced breast cancers with cells that don't have receptors for a protein called HER2, which can be effectively targeted by other drugs.

What are 2 newer breast cancer treatments? ›

New Treatments for Breast Cancer: Abraxane, Herceptin, Aromatase Inhibitors, and Oncotype Assays.

What is the new cancer drug in the UK? ›

Talazoparib (Talzenna)

NICE approved the drug talazoparib for use on the NHS in England in January. Talazoparib is a drug for certain people with locally advanced or secondary breast cancer who've inherited an altered BRCA gene.

What is the new breakthrough for breast cancer? ›

A new class of drugs known as CDK4/6 inhibitors are approved. CDK4/6 inhibitors have shown promise in the treatment of advanced ER-positive breast cancer.

What is the miracle drug for breast cancer? ›

The drug, trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), was approved based on a clinical trial led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) breast medical oncologist Shanu Modi, who presented the findings at this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

What are the new breast cancer drugs to benefit thousands of people? ›

Thousands more women with breast cancer could benefit from a blockbuster immunotherapy drug than previously thought, research suggests. Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, targets and blocks a specific protein on the surface of certain immune cells that then seek out and destroy the cancerous cells.

What is the 5 year pill for breast cancer? ›

You take tamoxifen daily at the same time every day. To treat early breast cancer, most people take tamoxifen for 5 years. In some situations, you might take it longer. This might be up to 10 years.

What is the new cancer breakthrough in 2024? ›

Leaders at City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, forecast that in 2024 more people will benefit from cancer breakthroughs, including research that unlocks the biology behind cancer disparities, wider access to CAR T cell therapy and rapid whole genome ...

What is the life expectancy of HER2 positive breast cancer? ›

Currently, survival rates exceed 90 percent in HER2-positive breast cancer that is diagnosed early and treated with chemotherapy and dual antibody therapy.

What is the 7 minute cancer injection in England? ›

"Drug treatment times for some NHS cancer patients will be slashed by up to three quarters, thanks to an anti-cancer injection that takes as little as seven minutes to administer," NHS said in an official statement. With this, the patients will be administered atezolizumab under the skin injection.

What is the new cancer drug that beats chemotherapy? ›

In a 2022 study, researchers found that Trodelvy, an ADC that targets a surface protein known as TROP2, seemed to be more effective than standard chemotherapy for people with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly hard-to-treat disease.

What is the new cancer drug instead of chemotherapy? ›

"Blinatumomab is a gentler, kinder treatment." Another targeted immunotherapy drug, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T), has also recently become available.

Can you live 30 years with metastatic breast cancer? ›

Many women with metastatic breast cancer will live only a handful of years, says Hendershott. But about one-third will live at least five years after their diagnosis. And “there are people who have been living with stage IV breast cancer for more than 15 years,” she says.

What is the new treatment for Stage 4 breast cancer? ›

Shanu Modi, the lead researcher of a groundbreaking trial that proved a drug that combines an antibody with a chemotherapy – trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) – can control cancer cells and extend survival in stage 4 HER2-low breast cancer patients.

What is the new treatment for estrogen-positive breast cancer? ›

Elacestrant is a new treatment option for patients with advanced breast cancer and ESR1 mutations in circulating tumor DNA. Oral selective estrogen receptor degraders are in multiple clinical trials with the potential to become a future mainstay of endocrine therapy.

What is the new drug to prevent breast cancer recurrence? ›

The team found adding ribociclib, a drug that belongs to a class of CDK4/6 inhibitors, to standard hormone therapy not only improved invasive-free survival in women with this type of early-stage breast cancer, but also improves distant disease-free survival and recurrence-free survival.

What is the new drug for HER2-negative breast cancer? ›

Two antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have been developed for HER2-negative and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC): trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) and sacituzumab govitecan (SG); both ADCs outperformed current standard chemotherapy.

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