Women with advanced breast cancer could live
longer thanks to two new drugs hailed as offering an “amazing” step
forward in treatment. One therapy
destroyed 40 per cent of tumors among patients with one of the most
deadly forms of cancer, twice as many as those given standard
treatment.
Experts said that they
were hopeful that the treatment would save lives, with signs it could
spare one in three breast cancer sufferers from undergoing invasive
surgery.
The second combination
therapy, which works for the most common type of breast cancer, more
than doubled the time tumors were kept at bay.
It meant women with advanced disease were able to secure an extra five
months before enduring grueling sessions of chemotherapy.
When the drug Perjeta was given to such women, in combination with standard treatment, tumors disappeared in 40 per cent of cases, without surgery.
Leading specialists said the “terrific results” from a trial of 417 women meant that around one in three of those who would normally undergo breast removal could be spared the surgery.
Huge tumors, some as large as 4 inches, were totally destroyed, the experts said.
The second drug, Palbociclib, made by Pfizer, was tested in women with the most common form of breast cancer, suffered by three in four sufferers.When women with advanced oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer were given the treatment, in combination with a second agent, they were able to double the time before disease advanced.
The findings were so exciting that investigators stopped the trial early, so all women in the study could access the drugs.
When the drug Perjeta was given to such women, in combination with standard treatment, tumors disappeared in 40 per cent of cases, without surgery.
Leading specialists said the “terrific results” from a trial of 417 women meant that around one in three of those who would normally undergo breast removal could be spared the surgery.
Huge tumors, some as large as 4 inches, were totally destroyed, the experts said.
The second drug, Palbociclib, made by Pfizer, was tested in women with the most common form of breast cancer, suffered by three in four sufferers.When women with advanced oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer were given the treatment, in combination with a second agent, they were able to double the time before disease advanced.
The findings were so exciting that investigators stopped the trial early, so all women in the study could access the drugs.
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