LONDON — English health authorities on Thursday agreed to provide a breast cancer drug from AstraZeneca through the National Health Service, ending a years-long dispute that stoked questions about how committed the pharma company was to the U.K.
Notably, the move — one that will extend the drug, called Enhertu, to an estimated 1,000 people in England — is in part a result of a U.S.-U.K. drug pricing deal reached late last year. Under the pact, a U.K. health agency agreed to raise the thresholds for what would be considered a cost-effective drug and worth paying for on the NHS.
Now, women with metastatic breast cancer whose tumors have low levels of the protein HER2 will be eligible to receive Enhertu, a type of next-generation chemotherapy known as an antibody-drug conjugate. AstraZeneca noted that Scotland has covered the drug since 2023, and it’s paid for in 26 other European countries. (Patients with HER2-positive cancers have been able to get Enhertu in England.)
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