People living with advanced prostate cancer who cannot undergo chemotherapy can now access a life-extending daily pill.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended talazoparib (also known as Talzenna, made by Pfizer), to be taken with enzalutamide, for adults with prostate cancer that has spread.
The treatment is recommended for people who cannot tolerate the other standard pill treatment - abiraterone plus prednisolone.
Talazoparib blocks an enzyme that repairs damaged DNA in certain cancer cells, and they perish.
A commercial arrangement is in place to provide talazoparib to the NHS at a discounted price.
Around 2,400 people in England are eligible for the drug.
Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said, "Talazoparib plus enzalutamide can be taken at home, so it provides a convenient and flexible treatment option for people who can't have chemotherapy and are not able to take other medicines, so have limited treatment options."
Clinical trials found that people taking talazoparib with enzalutamide lived significantly longer.
Their overall survival was 45.8 months compared with 37 months for those on enzalutamide alone.
This is the third new treatment for metastatic prostate cancer recommended by NICE in recent months, following darolutamide and abiraterone.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in the UK, but the opinion is divided regarding its screening.
While some say all men should be tested at regular intervals, others argue that it is unreliable.
A panel of expert government health advisers in November said prostate cancer screening should not be made available to the vast majority of men across the UK.
The UK National Screening Committee instead recommended that there should be a targeted screening programme for men with a faulty gene variant, who are more at risk of developing the cancer.
