Roche launches breast cancer drug Kadcyla in UK

Roche has announced the UK launch of Kadcyla, a new therapy for advanced HER2-positive breast cancer.

The drug has been approved by the European Commission and can now be accessed through the Cancer Drugs Fund in England, or via individual patient treatment and funding requests in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Data from the phase III Emilia study have revealed that the product can deliver improved rates of overall survival, while resulting in fewer severe side effects compared to chemotherapy.

Roche will now be working with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium to ensure UK patients can access Kadcyla through the NHS as soon as possible.

Paul Ellis, professor of cancer medicine at King's College London, said: "Kadcyla represents a new way of targeting HER2-positive breast cancer, which ultimately means that we could extend patients' lives compared to existing chemotherapy treatment."

This comes after NICE approved Roche's MabThera for the treatment of a pair of potentially fatal forms of vasculitis last month.