Breast cancer drug tamoxifen recommended for breast cancer drug move
All women over 30 in England and Wales judged to be at moderate or high risk of breast cancer would be able to take one of two drugs to reduce their risk under the draft guideline drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).
At present 2% of women in that age group are classed as at moderate risk and another 1% at high risk on the basis of family history of breast cancer and, in some cases, a genetic test to establish if they are carrying a faulty version of either the BRCA1, BRCA2 or TP53 genes, which greatly increase breast cancer risks.
Nice's updated advice on familial breast cancer could lead to nearly 550,000 women becoming eligible for the drugs
It can affect women of all ages but most commonly affects those above 40.
The conventional treatments for breast cancer include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but they cannot kill all the cancer cells and would cause server side effects.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We want women identified as being at high risk of breast and ovarian cancers to be given high-quality services based on their individual needs.The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said some women with a family history of the disease could benefit.Nice's advice could give some women at high risk of breast cancer an alternative to having both breasts removed in a double mastectomy to reduce their risk, as the TV presenter Sharon Osbourne revealed in November that she had done. About one in five of the 50,000 women a year in the UK who develop breast cancer have a significant family history of it. Of those, about 2,400 have a faulty version of BRCA1.
All women over 30 in England and Wales judged to be at moderate or high risk of breast cancer would be able to take one of two drugs to reduce their risk under the draft guideline drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).
At present 2% of women in that age group are classed as at moderate risk and another 1% at high risk on the basis of family history of breast cancer and, in some cases, a genetic test to establish if they are carrying a faulty version of either the BRCA1, BRCA2 or TP53 genes, which greatly increase breast cancer risks.
Nice's updated advice on familial breast cancer could lead to nearly 550,000 women becoming eligible for the drugs
It can affect women of all ages but most commonly affects those above 40.
The conventional treatments for breast cancer include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but they cannot kill all the cancer cells and would cause server side effects.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We want women identified as being at high risk of breast and ovarian cancers to be given high-quality services based on their individual needs.The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said some women with a family history of the disease could benefit.Nice's advice could give some women at high risk of breast cancer an alternative to having both breasts removed in a double mastectomy to reduce their risk, as the TV presenter Sharon Osbourne revealed in November that she had done. About one in five of the 50,000 women a year in the UK who develop breast cancer have a significant family history of it. Of those, about 2,400 have a faulty version of BRCA1.
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