The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Recommends Use of Exact Sciences’ Oncotype DX Test to Help Guide Chemotherapy Decisions for Node-positive Breast Cancer Patients - Seite 2

Prof Simon Holt, Health and Life Science, Swansea University & Peony Breast Care Unit, Prince Philip Hospital said:

“This decision to recommend the use of the Oncotype DX test to guide chemotherapy decisions in early node positive breast cancer will be of great benefit to our postmenopausal patients and to the NHS. The use of the test will reduce the suffering and inconvenience by sparing up to 85% of people unnecessary chemotherapy, which in turn, then reduces the care demands on Oncology services. It also reduces significantly the cost of treatment so that NHS resources can be redistributed to other medical priorities.

Also, our research has shown that the use of the Oncotype DX test means both clinicians and their patients will have much greater confidence in their chemotherapy decisions.”

The test’s efficacy is also supported by the landmark TAILORx⁶ and RxPONDER⁷ studies, which demonstrated that most patients with either node-negative or node-positive early-stage breast cancer do not benefit from chemotherapy and can be reliably identified using the Oncotype DX test.

Matt Bull, Head of Northern Europe (UK, Ireland and Nordics) at Exact Sciences, added: “We are delighted that more patients with node-positive breast cancer will now also benefit from knowing their Recurrence Score result. We are proud of the potential impact the expanded use of the Oncotype DX test will have — better patient treatment, improved clinical confidence and less pressure on the health service.”

About the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test

The Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test is designed to facilitate personalised clinical decisions by providing information about the biology of an individual breast cancer, with the potential to deliver financial benefits for healthcare systems. The test was first made available to patients in 2004, and over 1,5 million patients around the world have benefited from it. It is incorporated in major breast cancer treatment guidelines, including those of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference, as well as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) in the U.S.