Cancer drugs get draft approval

The drug targets the hormone oestrogen

A new class of breast cancer drugs have been given final draft approval by NHS drug advisers in England.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended the use of three aromatase inhibitors for early breast cancer in post-menopausal women.

The inhibitors target the hormone that is responsible for the growth and recurrence of many breast cancers.

NICE said the treatments should be used alongside or instead of the "gold standard" drug tamoxifen after surgery.

The inhibitors - anastrozole (Arimidex), exemestane (Aromasin) and letrozole (Femara) - reduce the risk of tumours spreading following surgery and could benefit thousands of women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer.

New treatment options like these are an important addition to the armoury of therapies available to treat women with the disease Dr Sarah Rawlings, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer

There are about 41,000 new cases of breast cancer in the UK each year, and around 12,000 women a year die from the disease.

NICE said the final guidance was still subject to appeal, and should be published in November.

Doctors can prescribe the drugs now, although many hospitals prefer to wait for final approval.

A 2004 study, co-ordinated by Cancer Research UK, found that patients who switched from tamoxifen to exemestane halfway through treatment reduced the risk of the disease returning by a third.

In June, the Intergroup Exemestane Study also found that switching to exemestane cut the risk of death by 17% compared with remaining on tamoxifen.

The results were for those women who had already completed two to three years of tamoxifen therapy.

Recurrence

A trial with anastrozole immediately after surgery showed an extra 26% cut in cancer recurrence on top of the 50% reduction provided by tamoxifen.

Letrozole has also been shown to be more effective than tamoxifen in a number of studies.

Dr Sarah Rawlings, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "Breakthrough is delighted that NICE has issued its final recommendation approving aromatase inhibitors for use in post-menopausal women with oestrogen sensitive early breast cancer.

"New treatment options like these are an important addition to the armoury of therapies available to treat women with the disease, making a real difference in increasing disease-free survival."

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