Nearly 300,000 women to be offered breast cancer drug in 'major step forward'

Nearly 300,000 women will be offered a drug that could reduce their risk of developing breast cancer, the NHS has said.

Around 289,000 post-menopausal women in England who have been determined to have a moderate or high risk of breast cancer will be offered anastrozole. In trials, the drug has been shown to reduce breast cancer cases by 49 per cent over 11 years with eligible women.

According to officials, estimations state that if 25 per cent of eligible women in England take up the offer while half of those take the drug for five years as recommended, it could result in avoiding 2,000 cases. While the drug is already in use for the treatment of breast cancer patients, it is now being "repurposed" to prevent potential future cases and is the first to go through NHS England's Medicines Repurposing Programme.

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NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “It’s fantastic that this vital risk-reducing option could now help thousands of women and their families avoid the distress of a breast cancer diagnosis. Allowing more women to live healthier lives, free of breast cancer is truly remarkable, and we hope that licensing anastrozole for a new use today represents the first step to ensuring this risk-reducing option can be accessed by all who could benefit from it.

“This is the first drug to be repurposed though a world-leading new programme to help us realise the full potential of existing medicines in new uses to save and improve more lives on the NHS. Thanks to this initiative, we hope that greater access