NICE approves twice-a-day tablet for advanced breast cancer

NICE approves twice-a-day tablet for advanced breast cancer
Recommended for people with hormone receptor (HR)-positive HER2-negative breast cancer, the treatment may delay the need for chemotherapy and its associated side-effects
Every year, thousands of people with hormone receptor (HR)-positive HER2-negative breast cancer could benefit from a new twice-a-day tablet, now set to be funded immediately through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved the use of capivasertib (also known as Truqap), in combination with fulvestrant, as an option for around 1,100 adults with HR-positive HER2-negative breast cancer that has certain genetic mutations and has spread.
“We’re looking at capivasertib with fulvestrant for people whose cancer has come back or got worse after treatment with a type of drug called a CKD 4 and 6 inhibitor and an aromatase inhibitor, a type of hormone therapy,” NICE said.
Developed by AstraZeneca, capivasertib is a targeted treatment called a kinase inhibitor, and it works by “blocking the action of an abnormal protein that tells cancer cells to multiply”, helping slow or stop the spread of cancer cells.