Roche breast cancer drug approved for Scottish patients following u-turn

Roche's breast cancer drug Kadcyla has been approved in Scotland following a u-turn from the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).

The SMC originally turned down the drug in October 2014 due to its high cost, which means it has until now only been available via the Cancer Drugs Fund in England.

However, the SMC has now changed its mind on this decision, granting approval for Kadcyla to be administered to women with aggressive forms of breast cancer who have previously been treated with trastuzumab and a taxane, either in combination or on their own.

What's more, Roche's research has shown that the monotherapy drug can lengthen patients' lives by an average of 5.8 months when compared to other available treatments.

Richard Erwin, general manager at Roche UK, commented: "For women with short life expectancies, this extra time is significant; potentially allowing them to spend one more Christmas, birthday or anniversary with their loved ones."

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