Name: Breast cancer pill gives patient 'four years of extra time’ | BBC News
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Now here a groundbreaking drug for patients with advanced breast cancer will become available on the NHS.

Capivasertib is a targeted treatment with fewer side effects, which has been shown to shrink tumors and extend life.

Our health correspondent, Sophie Hutchinson reports.

I decided that really what I wanted was a garden that had a lot of perennials in it and bulbs in it.

Linda's a keen gardener, it keeps her active.

She also cycles 60 miles a week and does Pilates.

It's hard to believe she has advanced breast cancer, which has spread to her bones and chest walls.

But she's had incredible results from the new drug called Capivasertib.

It's a fantastic drug, it's just amazing, it does literally allow you to have a normal kind of life and to forget sometimes even that you've got cancer.

And it's given me nearly four years now of uh extra time.

The drug, which was first designed at the Institute of Cancer Research, is now being made available on the NHS.

It's for the most common type of breast cancer called HR positive with a specific gene mutation.

They started working on this new drug here 20 years ago, scientists wanted a medicine that could target the growth protein in cancer cells and switch it off, and that's what they've achieved.

The scientists behind it say it's one of the most effective drugs they've seen for advanced cancer.

This really is quite a breakthrough for many patients, and some patients as well can have really durable responses on Capivasertib.

And that's what's so exciting about it, that it helps double treatment on average, and for some people can actually potentially induce responses for years.

Oh, it's nice to see all the flowers come out anyway.

Oh look, a little Robin on the bird feeder over there.

One benefit of Capivasertib is that unlike chemotherapy, it has few side effects.

It means Linda and her husband are able to travel.

It does make you think about your life and what you've done with your life and what you want to do with your life in in the future, um, but at least you feel well enough to make those plans and confident enough as well.

It's hoped around 3,000 women a year in England like Linda.

Will now benefit from this new drug, Sophie Hutchinson, BBC News.