Enhertu has been rolled out to patients with HER2-low breast cancer in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has rejected it for patients in England. Women in Wales are also being denied the drug.
Compelling evidence suggests the treatment, also known as trastuzumab deruxtecan, can prolong patients' lives and give them more time before their disease progresses.
Now "really exciting" new data, published at the world's largest cancer conference, suggests Enhertu is even more potent than previously thought. Results from the Destiny-Breast06 study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago, show the drug can stall the growth of tumours by more than a year, significantly longer than standard chemotherapy.
Overall, Enhertu, developed by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, reduced the risk of cancer growing or spreading in patients with HER2-low breast cancer by 38% compared with those who received chemotherapy. The data will pile pressure on regulators to approve the drug for women in England and Wales.
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