Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2015 to Question 222671, what recommended alternatives to (a) eribulin, (b) lapatinib and (c) everolimus are available to treat breast cancer; and what clinical benefits each alternative offers in terms of (i) progression free survival, (ii) overall survival, (iii) quality of life and (iv) toxicity.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a number of drugs for the treatment of advanced and metastatic breast cancer through its technology appraisals and a clinical guideline. These include:

- anthracyclines

- docetaxel

- vinorelbine

- capecitabine

- gemcitabine in combination with paclitaxel

- tamoxifen

- trastuzumab

Further information on each of these, together with the evidence base for NICE’s recommendations, can be found in NICE’s updated clinical guideline on advanced breast cancer (CG81) at:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg81