NHS drug access: Enhertu approved while lecanemab denied

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has made significant decisions regarding the availability of specialized drugs on the NHS.

In a reversal of a previous decision, NICE has approved the breast cancer drug Enhertu for approximately 1,000 women with HER2-low advanced breast cancer in England. The approval follows a commercial agreement, making the treatment available immediately. Clinical trials indicated that patients using the drug survived roughly two years, compared to 17.5 months for those receiving chemotherapy.

Conversely, the Alzheimer's drug lecanemab, marketed as Leqembi, remains denied for NHS patients. While the UK was the first European country to license the drug, health spending watchdogs ruled that its benefits did not justify the cost. This has drawn criticism from former life sciences minister Lord Bethell, who noted that the British government is simultaneously backing a £48m expansion of the Eisai manufacturing site in Hatfield to supply the drug to international markets, including Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.