New era in breast cancer battle

More than 4,600 women in Scotland will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Picture: Getty

In the last 25 years, research has begun to answer some of the biggest questions about breast cancer. We’ve discovered more than ever before about what causes breast cancer. We’ve found ways to diagnose the disease earlier and we’ve developed innovative new treatments. And, thanks to research, more women are alive today following a breast cancer diagnosis.

But more women than ever are getting breast cancer. This year, over 4,600 women in Scotland will be diagnosed with the disease. That’s an increase of nearly 70 per cent since 1986. Across the whole of the UK one woman is diagnosed every 10 minutes.

And, despite huge advances in treatments for primary breast cancers, over half a million women in the UK are living with a breast-cancer diagnosis. Many of these women live with the fear that their breast cancer might return and spread to other parts of their body.

This is what’s called secondary breast cancer. While secondary breast cancer can be managed with drugs, there’s currently no cure. Almost all deaths from breast cancer are caused by this advanced form of the disease. One third of women who have the disease have reached a point where further treatment isn’t possible and are receiving end-of-life care. These are women who are at the heart of so many other people’s lives – as mothers, daughters, sisters, wives and friends.

Every year 1,000 women lose their lives to secondary breast cancer in Scotland – and there’s currently nothing we can do to stop it. Breast cancer is far from a done deal.

So the recent news that the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has rejected the pioneering secondary breast cancer drug Kadcyla (also known as trastuzumab emtansine) for routine use on the NHS in Scotland was particularly disheartening.

Sadly, this latest rejection is just one symptom indicating a much wider problem: the inability of breast cancer patients in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, to access the drugs they need.

Kadcyla is used for a certain type of secondary breast cancer and can offer patients, on average, an additional six months of life, often with limited side effects. This means that patients are able to enjoy a good quality of life – sometimes continuing with work, taking holidays or simply enjoying as much precious time as they can with their loved ones.

Kadcyla was the first cancer drug to be assessed by the SMC since the introduction of a new process which increased patient and clinician engagement. Support for this drug has united the entire breast cancer community. Patients, families, carers, oncologists and all four breast cancer charities in Scotland have called for this medicine to be approved.

So this rejection was a deeply disappointing outcome and although we recognise that the very high cost of this medicine made it hard for the SMC to approve, it becomes more vital than ever that pharmaceutical companies do more to set the cost of new medicines at a price the NHS can afford.

We’re now at a tipping point where we need to convert what we’ve learned about breast cancer into confronting it as quickly as possible to help save more women’s lives. And making sure women get access to revolutionary new treatments is an essential part of that process.

Research such as the Breakthrough Generations Study has revolutionised our understanding of the role of genes, hormones, lifestyle, environment and behaviour in why breast cancer develops. We know our enemy better than ever before. There’s never been a better time to act.

That’s why we’re beginning a new era of life-saving breast cancer research – a new way forward that will help us stop breast cancer for good. We’ll work with the brightest minds from around the world and harness the best techniques, approaches and perspectives. We are ready to unite what we do with the work of other experts – wherever they are across Scotland or the rest of the world – to make the biggest impact.

We’ll lead the fight against breast cancer, uniting scientists and clinicians and giving voice to the millions affected by this devastating disease. And we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure that women get access to the most effective new treatments, giving them a longer life at a cost that the NHS can afford.

And we won’t stop until we stop breast cancer for good.

• James Jopling is Director for Scotland at Breakthrough Breast Cancer www.breakthrough.org.uk