HUNDREDS of women with incurable breast cancer will benefit from a life-extending new drug on the NHS after a long-running campaign to make Perjeta available in Scotland.
Campaigners said the decision would have a "profound and far-reaching" impact on terminally ill patients after clinical trials showed that Perjeta extended survival by around 16 months on average, compared to existing treatments.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) said the drug could now be routinely offered on the NHS to women with incurable HER2-positive secondary breast cancer. It is estimated that around 245 patients will be eligible for the treatment in the first year.
The decision follows a previous ruling in December which made Perjeta available as a treatment for early-stage breast cancer, before surgery.
Both decisions follow pressure from patients and charity, Breast Cancer Now, to bring NHS Scotland into line with England, where Perjeta was has been available since 2014 via the Cancer Drugs Fund. It was later approved for routine use in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in early 2018 but was rejected by the SMC three times in a row.
As a result, campaigners said some terminally ill women had uprooted themselves to England.
Angela Harris, head of Breast Cancer Care Scotland, said: “Women living with this cruel disease often tell us they feel robbed of their future. For them, nothing is more important than making as many precious memories as possible, and Perjeta can offer about an extra year of invaluable time.
“However, shockingly we’ve heard from women who moved across the border, at an already incredibly difficult time, to access this treatment which could have been available sooner."
There are few existing options for women with HER2-positive breast cancer which has returned or spread. Perjeta, which is manufactured by Roche, works by locking onto the HER2 molecule which makes the cancer cells grow and divide, killing them instead.
Ashleigh Simpson, Policy and Campaigns Manager for Scotland at Breast Cancer Now welcomed the SMC's decision.
She said: “We would like to thank every one of the 12,203 people who signed the Perjeta Now petition – you have helped ensure that hundreds of women with incurable breast cancer can be given more time to live.
“We are thrilled that the SMC, Roche and the Scottish Government have put patients first and worked together to ensure that women in Scotland can routinely access this life-extending drug. Today marks the end of a long wait for fair and equal access for Scottish patients."
SMC chairman Dr Alan MacDonald said:“We know from the testimonies given through our [Patient and Clinician Engagement] process how devastating this condition is for patients and their families. We hope this decision, which offers the opportunity of extra time when the patient feels well, will be welcomed by them.”
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “We welcome the decision by the SMC to approve Perjeta for use in the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. This decision could extend the lives of women with incurable cancer and make a real difference to their families.
“This follows the announcement in December, that it was also approved for women with early-stage breast cancer and means even more women will be able to benefit from this treatment.
“Being diagnosed with cancer is an incredibly difficult time for all those affected, and we are committed to supporting and continually improving patient care.”
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