The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has today issued draft guidance on Halaven® (eribulin) for public consultation. The draft guidance does not recommend NHS funding of eribulin, a treatment for locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Launched in April 2011,this is a novel treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose disease has progressed after at least two chemotherapeutic regimens for advanced disease.

Before the approval of Halaven in the EU, no single treatment had ever prolonged survival for women with heavily pre-treated locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Eribulin has demonstrated a statistically significant overall survival benefit in patients compared to currently used treatments, with patients treated with Halaven surviving a median of 3 months longer than patients who received other treatments.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. It accounts for around 16 percent of female deaths from cancer, the second most common cause of female cancer death after lung cancer. 30 percent of women diagnosed with early or localised breast cancer will eventually relapse and develop metastatic or advanced disease.

While eribulin now addresses an urgent need for new treatment options for women with advanced or metastatic breast cancer, the NICE guidance will be pivotal in the direction of breast cancer treatment in the UK. The UK launch of eribulin has been a major step towards a drug being made available to patients, which could help give precious extra time to both patients and their families.