A new drug that slows the spread of an incurable form of breast cancer has been approved for use by the UK’s National Health Service, marking a significant development in cancer treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence announced on Friday that capivasertib, a twice-daily pill produced by AstraZeneca and also known as Truqap, will be made available to patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, a common form of advanced breast cancer.
The decision has been hailed by scientists as a “landmark moment” that could benefit more than 1,000 women annually. The drug targets cancers that have specific genetic mutations and have spread within the breast tissue or to other parts of the body. By blocking the action of an abnormal protein that drives cancer cell growth, capivasertib is designed to slow or halt the progression of the disease, potentially prolonging the lives of patients.
Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, noted the drug’s importance, especially for patients with limited treatment options. “People with advanced breast cancer would value treatments like capivasertib that can be given when limited options exist and because it may delay the need for chemotherapy and its associated side-effects,” she said.
Results from clinical trials demonstrated that combining capivasertib with hormone therapy fulvestrant delayed the progression of the cancer by about 4.2 months compared with patients given a placebo with fulvestrant. The Institute of Cancer Research in London, which has been involved in decades of research leading up to the drug’s development, welcomed the approval.
“This announcement is a triumph that will improve treatment for these patients with the most common type of advanced breast cancer,” said Kristian Helin, chief executive of the ICR. “Around half of patients with this kind of breast cancer have mutations in one or more of the genes, and for these patients capivasertib can halt disease progression.”
According to NICE, 40,192 people were diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK in 2020, with nearly 15 percent found to be at an advanced stage at the time of diagnosis.
