Hundreds of breast cancer patients to get months of extra life with new NHS drug

HUNDREDS of women with breast cancer are getting months of extra life thanks to a new NHS drug.

Patients with an incurable type of cancer called HER2-positive are offered the medicine Enhertu to slow its progression.

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Around 600 women a year in England are expected to benefit if their cancer returns after treatment.

Studies have found that the drug known as trastuzumab deruxtecan can halve the risk of disease progression or death in certain patients within the first 18 months of taking it.

It extended the time without tumor growth to an average of 9.9 months, from 5.1 months with standard chemotherapy.

Peter Clark, of NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund, said: “This cutting-edge drug will bring hope to hundreds of patients with secondary incurable breast cancer.

“It will increase the time people have before their cancer gets worse and allow them to lead normal, healthy lives for longer.”

Breast Cancer Now executive director Baroness Delyth Morgan said the approval from the National Institutes for Health and Care Excellence was “fantastic news”.

Trials of the drug are being run to see if it benefits more patient groups.