Our breast team are aware of the news today (17th July 2025) that the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved ribociclib combination therapy to help prevent cancer returning in early-stage breast cancer. (Read the NICE announcement.)
Ribociclib is a targeted therapy known as a CDK 4/6 inhibitor. It works by blocking proteins called CDK 4 and CDK 6 that help cancer cells to grow and spread. Blocking these proteins helps to slow or stop the cancer from growing. It is taken alongside an aromatase inhibitor, which is a hormone therapy that reduces oestrogen levels in the body.
Two CDK 4/6 inhibitors – ribociclib and abemaciclib – are already available as a treatment option for patients with early breast cancer that is oestrogen receptor positive, HER 2 receptor negative and who have high-risk disease (people whose cancer had spread to nearby lymph nodes).
This new approval by NICE will make this treatment option available to a much wider range of patients. It will be a treatment option for patients who have hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer that has responded to initial treatment including surgery, but where there is a higher risk of the cancer returning.
The new NICE recommendation means this treatment option will now also be available for people whose disease hasn't spread to nearby lymph nodes.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre will assess each patient individually to check if they are eligible for ribociclib combination therapy as part of their treatment plan.
