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NHS Approves Capivasertib for Advanced Breast Cancer, Marking Major Breakthrough

Bio Tech

Business Honor
12 April, 2025

Capivasertib extends progression-free survival in advanced breast cancer with key genetic mutations.

A twice-daily drug approved by the NHS for the most common kind of advanced breast cancer represents a "huge breakthrough" in therapy. The drug capivasertib, commonly branded as Truqap, offers up to 3,000 women annually fresh hope for hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that has advanced with specific genetic abnormalities.

The medication successfully slows or stops the disease's progression by blocking AKT's function. According to clinical trials, capivasertib, when used in conjunction with the hormone therapy fulvestrant, increased the time until cancer progression by an average of 4.2 months when compared to patients who received fulvestrant and a placebo. This means that the time before illness progression has improved from 3.1 months to 7.3 months.

The NHS decision was hailed as a major step forward by the Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), which has devoted decades of research to this field. About half of patients with this type of breast cancer had tumors with mutations or in the PIK3CA, AKT1, or PTEN genes, which the new medication can treat.

It has been confirmed that the medication capivasertib can halt the growth of this kind of breast cancer in about 50% of patients with changes in one or more important genes. The recent approval for NHS use in England and Wales offers renewed hope to patients urgently in need of more effective treatment options. In addition to being a significant milestone for the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), the breakthrough demonstrates the power of British scientific innovation.

Years of basic research and an extensive drug discovery effort led by ICR specialists in collaboration with Astex Pharmaceuticals led to AstraZeneca's discovery of capivasertib. Professor Paul Workman, former ICR chief executive and an important person in the AKT drug discovery project, has described the drug as a important innovation.