What needed to change

Olaparib is a potentially life-saving primary breast cancer drug that could reduce the risk of cancer returning or progressing to incurable secondary breast cancer. In November 2022, it was provisionally rejected for use on the NHS in England.

This meant that eligible women faced missing out on this drug, which could reduce their risk of death by almost a third.

What you helped us do

After olaparib was provisionally rejected, we started a petition urging drug company AstraZeneca, NICE and NHS England to find a solution to make olaparib available to the women who could benefit from it.

The petition received huge support, with over 70,000 people adding their names.

Women like Claire and Johanna told us their stories and helped us raise awareness of what olaparib could mean for those living with certain types of primary breast cancer.

Patient advocates also supported our response to the NICE consultation as well as responding to it [directly themselves. Their experiences underlined the difference olaparib had made to them and why they wanted other women to be able to access it.

What we achieved together

Everybody who signed or shared the petition helped us send a message to AstraZeneca, NICE and NHS England that couldn’t be ignored.

Thanks to you, olaparib was approved for routine use on the NHS in England in April 2023. And it’s now available in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland too.

Together we’ve given eligible women the chance to receive the best possible treatment and the hope of a future free from breast cancer. Thanks to your help, we could potentially save hundreds of lives.

Get involved

If you want to be part of future campaigns, ensuring that effective breast cancer drugs can quickly reach patients on the NHS , 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.

Campaigns like this one show that we do have the power to make change. This treatment is only available thanks to supporters like you.

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