NHS to offer ‘repurposed’ drug to tackle breast cancer

Tens of thousands more women at increased risk of breast cancer are to be offered a ‘repurposed’ NHS drug, after it was licensed in a new use to help prevent the disease.

Anastrozole, which has been used for many years as a breast cancer treatment, has now been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a preventive option, said NHS England. It is hoped the move could help to prevent around 2,000 cases of breast cancer in England.

The drug, which is off-patent, has been shown in trials to reduce the incidence of the disease in post-menopausal women at increased risk of the disease by almost 50%.

It was first recommended as a preventive option by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in 2017. However, with the treatment being unlicensed in this use, uptake has remained low.

Using NHS England’s Medicines Repurposing Programme, the drug has now been granted a new indication by the MHRA as a preventive option for women at increased risk, including those with a significant family history of the disease.

The programme looks at using existing medicines in new ways to benefit patients and the NHS. It was set up in 2021, is hosted by NHS England and supported by the Department of Health and Social Care, the MHRA, NICE, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

During the pandemic, it was used to repurpose tocilizumab, an arthritis drug, and dexamethasone, a widely available steroid, as treatments for Covid-19.

Around 289,000 women at moderate or high risk of breast cancer could be eligible for the drug. While not all will choose to take it, it is estimated that, if 25% do, around 2,000 cases of breast cancer could potentially be prevented in England, while saving the NHS around £15m in treatment costs, NHS England said.

NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, said: “Allowing more women to live healthier lives, free of breast cancer is truly remarkable, and we hope that licensing anastrozole for a new use today represents the first step to ensuring this risk-reducing option can be accessed by all who could benefit from it.

“This is the first drug to be repurposed through a world-leading new programme to help us realise the full potential of existing medicines in new uses to save and improve more lives on the NHS. Thanks to this initiative, we hope that greater access to anastrozole could enable more women to take risk-reducing steps if they’d like to, helping them live without fear of breast cancer,” she added.

Breast cancer remains the most common cancer in England, with 47,000 people being diagnosed each year.

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