NHS to offer breast cancer prevention drugs

New guidelines for the UK National Health Service (NHS) suggest that women at high risk of breast cancer should be offered a five-year course of tamoxifen or raloxifene to prevent the disease developing.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says taking either drug on a daily basis for five years can reduce breast cancer risks by 40% for up to 10 years. It recommends the drugs are offered to healthy women aged over 35 who have a family history of breast cancer or carry a high risk gene such as BRCA1 or BRCA2. Around half a million women across England and Wales may be eligible for the treatment.

Cancer charities have welcomed the recommendations, saying the drugs could spare at-risk women the trauma of breast removal surgery, as well as saving the NHS money. The cost of a year’s course of raloxifene, manufactured by Eli Lily, is in the region of a few hundred pounds - much cheaper than chemotherapy, which can run into tens of thousands of pounds. Tamoxifen is cheaper still, having been out of patent for several years, and the whole five-year course would cost around £250 per person.