Blow for Scottish women as SMC rejects Afinitor for advanced breast cancer
pharmafile | October 12, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | SMC, advanced breast cancer
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has announced that it will not recommend Novartis’s Afinitor (everolimus) for use in advanced breast cancer within NHS Scotland.
Novartis said it is disappointed and surprised by the decision, and hopes a resubmission will be promptly evaluated by the SMC to ensure timely access to everolimus for patients in Scotland, where there is “a huge unmet need for this group of patients”.
Everolimus is the first new-targeted therapy licensed in 15 years in this particular patient group and now becomes the fourth advanced breast cancer treatment not to be recommended in Scotland over the past 12 months, leaving patients with few treatment options compared to other parts of the UK.
The treatment blocks the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway, which acts as a crucial regulator of cell growth in various cancers. By inhibiting the mTOR protein, everolimus slows cancer cell growth and boosts the efficacy of endocrine therapies.
For patients with hormone receptor positive disease who have failed on hormone therapy, the only alternative is chemotherapy with its associated hospital visits, toxicity and high adverse impact on quality of life.
Breast cancer affects over 4,000 women in Scotland each year and is the most common cancer in women, accounting for 30% of all cancers in women. The advanced form is incurable and patients face a significantly shortened life expectancy. About one in eight women in Scotland will develop breast cancer during their lifetime.
Margaret Dean, general manager of Novartis’s Oncology Business Unit, comments: “In clinical trials, everolimus was shown to delay starting chemotherapy on average by six months. Delaying disease progression and maintaining quality of life are particularly meaningful outcomes for women with advanced breast cancer and can allow them to maintain their independence for longer, continue to work and contribute to family life.
“We will do our utmost through continued dialogue with the SMC to ensure that patients with advanced breast cancer in Scotland have access to this important treatment, as they do in England and Wales. We hope that a resubmission will be promptly evaluated by the SMC in the interests of patients.”
Professor David Cameron, Professor of Oncology at Edinburgh University, adds: “Sadly, many women with advanced breast cancer find that their disease eventually becomes resistant to endocrine therapy, often leading to treatment with chemotherapy. I am pleased that discussions are ongoing with the potential that Scottish patients will be granted access to everolimus, which can help overcome this resistance.”
Joel Levy
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