The NHS is set to introduce a daily pill that reduces the risk of breast cancer by half, offering women the opportunity to live “freedom from fear”. Approximately 300,000 women will receive the medication anastrozole as part of a new initiative to routinely prescribe drugs for cancer prevention, similar to how statins are used to protect against heart disease.
Women with a family history of breast cancer are encouraged to consult their GP for advice.
A new era in cancer prevention
Amanda Pritchard, CEO of NHS England, has described this groundbreaking program as the beginning of a “new era in cancer prevention as she noted that these affordable daily pills, priced at 4p each, will have a “transformative” impact on saving lives, much like the impact of statins.
According to the plan, post-menopausal women with a family history of breast cancer will be evaluated by their GPs to determine if they should be offered this medication. If all eligible women take the drugs to prevent breast cancer and complete the recommended five-year course, it could prevent 8,000 cases of the disease among women in their 50s and 60s.
Pritchard believes that this “truly remarkable” drug will provide tens of thousands of women with the ability “to live their lives with more freedom from fear of this devastating disease”.
Eligibility
Various charities have expressed their enthusiasm for this decision, as it offers women with a family history of breast cancer the chance to take daily medication that significantly reduces their risk. For example, women who have a mother or sister diagnosed with the disease before the age of 40 or have two close relatives with breast cancer at any age will be encouraged to seek assessment and receive prescriptions from their GPs.
In the general population, one in seven women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. Women identified as having a lifetime risk of at least one in six will be eligible for the preventive drugs. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with approximately 55,000 women diagnosed annually. Clinical trials have demonstrated that high-risk women who take anastrozole for five years can reduce their risk by 49% for more than a decade.
Health officials estimate that about 290,000 women in England will now be eligible for this preventive medication. If a quarter of these women take up the offer, and half of them complete the five-year course, it could prevent 2,000 cases among women aged 50 to 69. Full uptake would result in 8,000 cases prevented, assuming half adhere to the prescription.
Saving the NHS money
Health authorities anticipate that the drugs will save the NHS £15 million in cancer treatment costs. This medication is the first to be authorised through an NHS “repurposing” program, allowing drugs originally licensed for one purpose, such as treatment, to be approved for another purpose, such as prevention.
Anastrozole has been licensed for breast cancer treatment since 2006 but has not been authorised for prevention until now.
Under the existing system, when drugs lose their patent and become generic, there is little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to pursue new licensing applications for different uses, like prevention.
In 2017, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended the drug for prevention in women at moderate to high risk of breast cancer, but the recommendation had limited impact because it depended on clinicians being willing to prescribe it off-label.
Under the new system, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has now granted a licence for the new purpose, and pharmaceutical company Accord Healthcare has agreed to apply for the licence on a not-for-profit basis. Other companies that produce the drug have also been asked to provide it for prevention, in addition to treatment.
Responses
Amanda Pritchard believes that these changes, introduced on Tuesday, mark a “milestone moment” in the mission to save lives from breast cancer and contribute to “catch more killer conditions earlier and save more lives”.
“The successful NHS Covid vaccination roll-out provided a blueprint for prevention – and just as we have seen with the impact of statins and blood thinners in preventing thousands of strokes and heart attacks, we know reaching many more people with proven existing medicines can be transformative,” she says.
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, the chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Now, expressed she was “thrilled” by the rollout, which comes after a decade of “tireless campaigning| by the charity, alongside the efforts of medical professionals, researchers, and patients.
Final thought
This groundbreaking initiative, spearheaded by Amanda Pritchard and the NHS, signifies a new era in cancer prevention. With affordable daily pills priced at just 4 pence each, women with a family history of breast cancer now have the opportunity to liberate themselves from the constant fear of this devastating disease. The potential to prevent 8,000 cases of breast cancer among women in their 50s and 60s is a giant leap towards a healthier, happier society, and a testament to the power of proactive healthcare measures.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Last month, Chamber held a panel session for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Watch it here:
