Breast cancer breakthrough pill: Doctor Hilary Jones explains everything you need to know
Breast cancer breakthrough pill: Dr Hilary Jones explains everything you need to knowSource: Good Morning Britain, ITV
Transcript
00:00 So we're talking about 300,000 post-menopausal women
00:04 who are at moderate to high risk
00:06 of developing breast cancer in the future.
00:08 So they haven't got it yet, but if they took this drug,
00:12 if 25% of these eligible women took this drug,
00:16 and even if half of them took it for the five-year period,
00:20 it would save something like 2,000 lives
00:23 during their lifetime.
00:24 So this is really exciting news.
00:26 It gives us another weapon in the armistice
00:28 to bear them against fighting about the development
00:32 of breast cancer.
00:33 So very exciting.
00:35 It's been repurposed from being a drug to treat breast cancer
00:39 to one that will prevent breast cancer.
00:41 So 300,000 women will now be eligible for this.
00:46 How do you know whether to go to the GP and ask for it?
00:48 It's based on family history.
00:50 So the moderate to severe risk depends on your family history.
00:54 So for example, if you had first degree relatives
00:56 who'd had breast cancer at an early age,
00:58 that might make you more at risk.
00:59 And that would be a reason to go and see
01:01 your GP, who would either treat you themselves
01:03 or refer you to secondary care for you
01:05 to be assessed to see if you're eligible and would
01:08 benefit from this treatment.
01:09 But it's really exciting news.
01:11 And it will free thousands of women and their families
01:14 from the fear of that breast cancer diagnosis in the future.