Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha has expressed outrage after a pioneering cancer drug was blocked for use on the NHS in England. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) decided that the cost of trastuzumab deruxtecan, known as Enhertu, was too high relative to its benefits. The drug, which received a standing ovation at a 2022 clinical trials conference, could have given Sawalha's close friend Hannah Gardner, who has secondary breast cancer, an additional six months to live.
Sawalha described herself as 'upset, angry and scared', calling the decision 'extra cruel'. She said: 'I feel the fear of all of those women. It's scary, it's a dark shadow... this feels extra cruel to me. But it's not beyond the realms of possibility that some light can be brought in instead.' Enhertu is the first licensed targeted treatment for patients with HER2-low breast cancer that cannot be surgically removed or has spread. Around 1,000 patients a year in England would have been eligible.
Hannah Gardner, 37, a former clinical trial manager from Twickenham, London, has been diagnosed with cancer four times. She was first diagnosed in 2013, and despite treatment including chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, the cancer returned twice more before she was told in June 2022 that she had stage 4 incurable breast cancer, which had spread to her liver. She described the NICE decision as 'crushing', saying: 'I honestly, I couldn't believe it. I was in shock.'
Gardner had been told earlier this year that she could be eligible for Enhertu after her cancer progressed, forcing her to withdraw from a medical trial. The drug has been approved in more than 45 countries, including Scotland, but NICE concluded its appraisal without a price agreement. Gardner said: 'The drug is meant to significantly improve how long you live, with the potential of another six months at least. Those chunks of time are huge. I want as much time as possible to be there for my little girl.'
