Novartis receives Scottish approval for Femara

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has announced it has approved the restricted use of the Novartis drug Femara (Letrozole) in the NHS Scotland.

Femara has been approved for the adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive invasive early breast cancer. Unlike Tamoxifen, an older breast cancer drug originally produced by ICI which interferes with oestrogen receptors, Femara inhibits the mechanism that produces oestrogen itself.

An SMC statement read: “Letrozole has shown benefit over standard anti-oestrogen therapy in terms of disease-free survival, although a pre-planned sub-group analysis showed a statistically significant beneficial effect in node-positive patients only.”

“It offers an alternative to existing treatment and has a different range of adverse effects,” it added.

Novartis said that Femara approval by NICE for the rest of the UK could take at least a further six months. Mr Rob Carpenter, Consultant Breast and Endocrine Surgeon and Associate Director of Cancer Services, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, commented: “It is a pity that women must wait for approval of aromatase inhibitors in other parts of the UK, however, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland they can receive these drugs in the interim if they have their oncologists’ approval.”

Emma Pennery, nurse consultant at Breast Cancer Care added: “With new data increasingly showing these treatments to be more effective than tamoxifen, we hope to see a NICE appraisal that supports the use of aromatase inhibitors in the treatment of early breast cancer and equal access to the best treatment options for all breast cancer patients throughout the country.”

AstraZeneca’s Arimidex and Pfizer’s Aromasin are other examples of aromatase inhibitors designed for use with hormonally-responsive breast cancer.

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