A QUARTER of a million people have joined a campaign for an innovative breast cancer drug to be given to women who have been denied treatment on the NHS.
More than 250,000 have signed Breast Cancer Now’s petition to overturn a medical surveillance decision on Enhertu.
It has been refused for women with incurable cancer that has spread, despite evidence that it can add six months or more to their lives and the fact that it is offered on the Scottish NHS.
England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said the drug was not good value for money.
It retails for around £10,000 per patient per month and the NHS negotiated a lower price, but it was still considered too expensive.
Breast Cancer Now estimates that 1,000 women a year in England could benefit.
These women deserve the hope of longer lives
Jo Taylor
Baroness Delyth Morgan, head of the charity, said there is a “crucial window” to campaign before a final decision is made.
She added: “This must happen urgently or women’s lives will be tragically cut short.”
The charity and pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo have said Nice’s new decision-making process is flawed.
Enhertu, full name trastuzumab deruxtecan, targets a specific type of cancer called HER2-low.
WE DON’T GIVE UP, SAYS NADIA RELEASE OF WOMEN
LOOSE Women star Nadia Sawalha took her Enhertu campaign to Parliament in March to help her friend Hannah Gardner, who is living with incurable breast cancer at just 37.
Nadia told Sun Health: “While Nice is still thinking, cancer cells are multiplying and women are dying.”
Hannah, a former clinical trials manager from Twickenham, London, was told by her oncologist that the drug is now her best remaining option.
She received her primary diagnosis of breast cancer in 2013, at age 26, after discovering a large lump in her left breast.
After undergoing treatment including chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, the cancer returned twice more – once in 2017 in the chest wall and again in 2020 in the armpit.
In June 2022, Hannah received the news that she had stage 4 incurable breast cancer.
She said: “The thought of leaving my daughter keeps me up at night.
“It also keeps me going with this campaign because your mummy is not being stolen for a second longer than necessary.
“People at my stage can live for two to four years and I already have three. This could give me those important extra months.”
It works by binding to cancer cell proteins and disrupting their DNA to destroy them from the inside out.
Some women are already eligible to get it on the NHS, but campaigners want it to be offered to those who cannot be cured and are running out of options.
The Breast Cancer Now petition had almost 260,000 signatures by lunchtime on Thursday.
Jo Taylor, from patient group METUPUK, said: “The quarter of a million signatures shows there is a huge public outcry.
“These women deserve the hope of living longer.”
The ‘Enhertu Emergency’ petition is online at this link.
What are the signs of breast cancer?
BREAST cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK.
Most women who get it are over 50, but younger women and, in rare cases, men can also get breast cancer.
If treated early, breast cancer can be stopped from spreading to other parts of the body.
Breast cancer can present with a variety of symptoms, but the first noticeable symptom is usually a lump or area of thickened breast tissue.
Most breast lumps are not cancerous, but it is always best to have them checked out by your doctor. You should also speak to your doctor if you notice any of the following:
- a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts
- discharge from either of your nipples (which may be stained with blood)
- a lump or swelling in either armpit
- dimples in the skin of your breasts
- a rash on or around your nipple
- a change in the appearance of your nipple, such as becoming sunken into the breast
Source: SNS
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