Daily pill to prevent breast cancer approved for use in England

Tens of thousands of women in England could benefit from a drug to help prevent breast cancer.

Anastrozole, which has been used for many years to treat the disease, has now been licensed as a preventative option.

During recent trials, it was shown that the drug can reduce the incidence of breast cancer by nearly 50 per cent in post-menopausal women at a moderate or high risk of the disease.

Charities said it was “a major step forward” for women with a significant family history of the cancer.

An estimated 289,000 women could be eligible for the drug and if one in four of these come forward, it could help prevent 2,000 cases of breast cancer in England, which could save the health service £15m in treatment costs.

Anastrozole is off-patent, which means more than one company can make it and the drug can be distributed relatively cheaply, around four pence per day per user.

First recommended as a preventative option by NICE in 2017, its use in this way has now been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency as part of NHS England’s medicines-repurposing programme.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said “The extension of anastrozole’s license to cover it being used as a risk-reducing treatment is a major step forward that will enable more eligible women with a significant family history of breast cancer, to reduce their chance of developing the disease.”

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said she hoped that licensing anastrozole “represents the first step to ensuring the risk-reducing option can be accessed by all who could benefit from it.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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