(efitnessnow.com)
Breast cancer experts are brimming with optimism as two new medicines – Pertuzumab and Afinitor have shown promising results in significantly delaying the advancement of breast cancer in women.
In a large international study, a Genentech experimental drug, Pertuzumab, stalled advancement of the cancer for additional 6 months when given with standard treatment. The drug targets cells that make too much of a protein called HER2 — about one of every four or five breast cancer cases. Herceptin attacks the same target but in a different way, and the two medicines complement each other.
Dr. Sandra Swain, Study leader and medical director of Washington Hospital Center’s cancer institute said:
“You don’t see that very often. … It’s a spectacular result.”
In a second study, another drug used in organ transplants and sold as Afinitor by Novartis kept cancer in check for an average of 7 months in women whose disease was worsening despite treatment with hormone-blocking drugs. A comparison group that received only hormonal medicine had just a 3-month delay in disease progression. It blocks one pathway cancer uses to spread. The new drugs are some of the first major developments since Herceptin came out in 1998 and has become standard treatment for a certain type of breast cancer.
Dr. Eric Winer of the Dana-Farber cancer center and not involved in the new studies and has no financial ties to drug companies commented:
“Pertuzumab is a winner and should win government approval.”
Dr. Gabriel Hortobagyi, study leader and breast cancer research chief at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston expressed:
“The two together have a much greater effect than you would expect from either alone. They snip two wires that are critical for growth signals to continue.”
However, the combo is not without side effects, which include mouth sores, anemia, shortness of breath, high blood sugar, fatigue and lung inflammation.
According to Vitals, Dr. Sandra Swain is a board certified medical oncologist. With over 121 published articles Dr. Swain is one of America’s leading experts on adjuvant chemotherapy. Dr. Eric Winer is a board certified hematologist and medical oncologist who received his medical education at the University of North Carolina school of medicine at Chapel hill in 1999. Dr. Gabriel Hortobagyi is a medical oncologist.
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