Thousands of cancer patients denied key drug due to ‘unfair’ NHS rulings, says charity

Thousands of women battling advanced breast cancer could be denied access to crucial life-extending medication due to an "unfair" assessment process for NHS drug approval.

Charity Breast Cancer Now has issued an urgent plea to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, demanding "immediate action" to dismantle current spending restraints.

The organisation is also calling for the NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), to lower its threshold for what it classifies as a "very severe health condition."

NICE's severity modifier, introduced in 2022, is designed to give greater weight to treatments for more severe illnesses, increasing the likelihood of their recommendation for NHS use.

However, Breast Cancer Now argues that the current criteria are too stringent, potentially preventing thousands of women from accessing vital therapies.

According to NICE, the process raises the threshold for what it considers to be a cost-effective treatment, meaning it can give more expensive drugs the green light.

However, a new report from Breast Cancer Now claims the system means women with incurable breast cancer with months to live may be told their condition does not qualify for the most severe rating.

The call comes after it emerged that the life-extending drug Enhertu will not be made available for women with incurable breast cancer on the NHS in England and Wales.

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Source: The Independent, 2 July 2025