METUPUK are delighted by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) acceptance of Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for routine use on the NHS. The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted: Trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu)
We had to confirm back on the 5th November the heartbreaking news that the wonderful Philippa Hetherington had died 💔
She was an absolute force of intellectual nature for breast cancer in general, not just Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
Did you know that the Trodelvy campaign in England for TNBC was HER campaign?
METUPUK are delighted for the approval of Trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) for treating HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic breast cancer in adults who have received one or more prior anti-HER2 based therapies approved for use through the Cancer Drugs Fund in NHS in England.
METUPUK are delighted that NICE has accepted Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan) for routine use on the NHS in England for the treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have received two or more prior lines of systemic therapies. This follows on from the decision to approve Trodelvy in NHS Scotland in March 2022. Wales and Northern Ireland normally follow decisions by NHS England and we hope that Trodelvy will be made available to every patient who is eligible without delay.
At METUPUK, we dream of the day when metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is downgraded from an incurable to a chronic illness. The only way this will be possible is through new scientific research. We urgently need more research into this deadly disease.
We need more clinical research into MBC, including clinical trials. These are crucial for determining which are the most effective treatment options and for bringing new drug treatments to patients.
Following on from our #TrodelvyNow post last month, MetUpUk Member Phillippa has appeared in the Daily Mail, alongside other women for who this drug could mean, literally the difference between life and death.
Of all the subtypes of metastatic breast cancer, metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is the hardest to treat with the worst prognosis. While new advances in the treatment of hormone positive MBC and Her2 MBC have helped some patients live for a number of years, average life expectancy for someone with metastatic TNBC is just 12-18 months.
We started our campaign in Metastatic May with some information about treatment lines and it really caused a bit of a stir, especially on Instagram.
Why? Because people don’t want to think that this disease is going to kill us. We have to remain positive. We have to see the chink of light and I agree we all have to have hope. That was my introduction. We need hope.
In 2018 I was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in my liver, I was 44.
I knew the survival statistics were grim, so decided from the outset, in order to outlive the 2 to 3-year median I’d have to embrace experimental drugs and treatments.
I made this clear during my first oncology appointment, telling my doctor I was keen to sign up for clinical trials right from the start.
Stage 4 breast cancer with a pacemaker
Most people know someone with a pacemaker, and chances are that person will be elderly. The average age of a first pacemaker implantation in the UK is 72, but pacemakers are actually fitted in people of all ages from newborn babies to the very elderly. I was 39 when I had mine, which was needed as a complication after heart surgery to replace my aortic valve and root.
