New treatments prolong health after Breast Cancer

A new targeted therapy that appears to double the amount of time cancer can be held in check, a drug that offers more women a chance at healthy lives post-diagnosis and a surgical option to remove extra tissue in order to reduce the likelihood of cancer's return were among the findings presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.
The targeted drug, palbociclib, is made by Pfizer and was granted accelerated approval by the US Food and Drug Administration earlier this year for use in women with the most common form of advanced breast cancer, known as estrogen receptor positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-). According to the findings of a phase III trial presented at the ASCO meeting, the drug when used in combination with an anti-estrogen agent called Fulvestrant was able to double the time women spent without having their cancer advance.
The combination delayed disease progression for just over nine months, compared to nearly four months in women taking Fulvestrant alone, according to a randomized study of 521 women, most of whom were post-menopausal. Those results led investigators to stop the trial early because it was so effective."After initial hormonal therapy stops working in metastatic breast cancer, the next step is typically chemotherapy, which can be effective, but the side effects are often very difficult for women," said lead study author Nicholas C. Turner, a consultant medical oncologist at The Royal Marsden and a team leader at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.
"This relatively easy-to-take new drug can substantially delay the point when women need to start chemotherapy, making this an exciting new approach for women."