Published: 10th Nov, 2023
Context:
Anastrozole, which has been used for many years as a breast cancer treatment, has today been licensed by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a preventive option - which it is hoped could help prevent thousands of breast cancer cases in England.
Background:
- Every year, around 56,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer – about 150 a day. While survival rates have improved, it still claims about 11,500 lives each year.
- Almost 300,000 women at higher risk of developing breast cancer are being given access to a drug that can halve their risk in a “major step forward” in the fight against the disease.
- An estimated 289,000 women in England who are at moderate or high risk of breast cancer will be able to take the tablet to try to prevent it from developing, NHS.
|
About Anastrozole:
|
About Drug:
- The drug, anastrozole, is being made available to women who are in greater danger because they have been through menopause and have a major family history of Britain’s commonest form of cancer.
- It displays “remarkable” potential to reduce the number of people who go on to develop the disease, the head of the NHS.
- The vital risk-reducing option could now help thousands of women and their families avoid the distress of a breast cancer diagnosis.
- The drug will be taken as a 1mg tablet once a day for five years.
Way Forward:
- The extension of anastrozole’s licence to cover it being used as a risk-reducing treatment is a major step forward that will enable more eligible women with a significant family history of breast cancer to reduce their chances of developing the disease.
- This Approach help prevent breast cancer at high risk are badly needed, so this is a welcome announcement.
Courses
Study
Notes
Home
Resources
More
