Trials carried out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) suggest that abemaciclib, the new drug, when used alongside hormone therapy improved the chances of no breast cancer recurrence by a third in comparison to standard treatment, according to the Guardian. Abemaciclib works by blocking proteins in cancer cells and stops cancer cells from growing and dividing. It will be an alternative to other cancer inhibitor drugs that have side affects, the newspaper added.
Standard treatment of breast cancer includes surgery, radiation and hormone therapy. The chances of the illness returning under this treatment are low, however even the smallest possibility still causes serious anxiety for many patients. With the approval by the NHS, about 4,000 women will initially benefit from the new pill, the Nice said, as cited by the Guardian.
The drug will be reportedly available for patients with primary breast cancer as well as for advanced cases. "Advanced breast cancer is an incurable condition and the aim of treatment is to delay it getting worse and extend survival," Meindert Boysen, director of the Center for Health and Technology Evaluation at Nice, was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
The drug manufacturer, Eli Lilly, has struck a deal with the NHS and agreed on an undisclosed discounted price, the report said. The fact that draft recommendations were produced less than a month after abemaciclib was licensed also demonstrates the seriousness of the Nice and the NHS ambitions to provide clinically and cost effective treatments as early as possible, the Guardian noted.