Cancer drug effective with fewer side effects – Sun, 03 Jun 2012 PST

June 3, 2012 in Nation/World Breast cancer treatment stillexperimental

Marilynn Marchione Associated Press

CHICAGO Doctors have successfully dropped the first smart bomb on breast cancer, using a drug to deliver a toxic payload to tumor cells while leaving healthy onesalone.

In a key test involving nearly 1,000 women with very advanced disease, the experimental treatment extended by several months the time women lived without their cancer getting worse, doctors planned to report today at a cancer conference inChicago.

More importantly, the treatment seems likely to improve survival; it will take more time to know for sure. After two years, 65 percent of women who received it were still alive versus 47 percent of those in a comparison group given two standard cancerdrugs.

That margin fell just short of the very strict criteria researchers set for stopping the study and declaring the new treatment a winner, and they hope the benefit becomes clearer with time. In fact, so many women on the new treatment are still alive that researchers cannot yet determine average survival for thegroup.

The absolute difference is greater than one year in how long these people live, said the studys leader, Dr. Kimberly Blackwell of Duke University. This is a major stepforward.

A warning to hopeful patients: the drug is still experimental, and so not available yet. Its backers hope it can reach the market within ayear.

The treatment builds on Herceptin, the first gene-targeted therapy for breast cancer. It is used for about 20 percent of patients whose tumors overproduce a certainprotein.

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Cancer drug effective with fewer side effects - Sun, 03 Jun 2012 PST