What needed to change
Kadcyla, a secondary breast cancer drug shown to extend life on average by an extra six months, with some women able to live for years on it, was not available in Scotland. We needed to make sure this treatment option for women with HER2 positive secondary breast cancer was made available in Scotland.
What you helped us do
Breast Cancer Now teamed up with four Scottish mums; Lesley Stephen, Alison Tait, Lesley Graham and Anne MacLean-Chang. Together we launched a petition asking the drug’s manufacture, Roche and the Scottish Medicine Consortium (SMC) to unlock Kadcyla for Scottish patients.
In just six days, 13,196 of you signed our petition.
What we achieved together
On Monday 10 April 2017, the SMC announced a landmark decision to make the revolutionary cancer drug available on Scotland’s NHS. Your support will help around 118 women a year in Scotland benefit from Kadcyla. Thank you for helping to transform treatment options for women with HER2 positive breast cancer in Scotland.
What’s next?
We will continue to work to ensure effective breast cancer drugs can reach patients on the NHS. This includes making sure the patient voice is heard during the assessment of treatments, by both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Scottish Medicine Consortium (SMC). If you want to be part of future campaigns supporting breast cancer patients to access the drugs they need to live well, sign-up to receive our updates. You’ll be the first to hear about ways to take action to make things better for people affected by breast cancer.