A pill to prevent breast cancer

Thousands of women in Britain with a family history of breast cancer will become the first in the world to be offered a drug that will cut their cancer risk by 40%. In what is being called a historic and game changing
be given to women for five years, which will give them a choice of just popping a pill rather that get a mastectomy.

Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease in UK, and of all those who develop the condition, around 1 in 5 has a family history. A family history of breast cancer is often caused by faults with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which have been passed on from parent to child. People who carry the BRCA gene have between a 60-90 % chance of developing breast cancer.

Currently, if a person is considered to have a high risk of breast cancer , they are eligible for annual screening to detect any tumour early on. Alternatively they can choose surgery to prevent developing disease . This is a major and traumatic intervention for all involved, and was recently highlighted by the case of Angelina Jolie's decision to opt for a double mastectomy.

NICE said on Tuesday that women with a family history of breast cancer are now eligible for drug treatments. NICE has recommended that either tamoxifen or raloxifene should be offered for 5 years to postmenopausal women with a uterus and at high risk of breast cancer.

NICE says tamoxifen is effective in reducing breast cancer incidence when used for chemoprevention. Estimates suggest that offering these treatments could help prevent breast cancer in around 3% of all women aged 35 years and older—affecting around 488,000 women. While neither drug is currently licensed as a preventative treatment for breast cancer, they are currently approved for use in the US.