New treatment may extend the survival rates of women with advanced breast cancer

A new clinical trial has suggested that by combining hormone therapy with a pioneering drug may extend the lives of some women with advanced breast cancer.

The women who took part in the trial and received the drug palbociclib alongside hormone therapy lived for up to 40 months longer than those given hormone therapy alone. It also delayed the need to start chemotherapy, which often carries debilitating side-effects.

Experts have said that, although the treatment is not a cure and will not work for everyone, the preliminary results of the trial were very encouraging.

The clinical trial involved 521 women with advanced, oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer and whose tumours did not have the HER2 gene. Oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancers are the most common form of the disease and account for around 70 per cent of all cases.

The trial, following a study led by researchers from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Reserch in London, examined the effect palbociclib had on overall survival and whether it would delay the need for chemotherapy treatment. It found that in patients whose tumours had responded well to hormone therapy (410 of the 521 patients) treatment extended their lives by an average of just under 40 months and a minimum of 10 months.

However, the treatment did not extend the lives of those who had not responded well to previous hormone therapy.

Study leader Professor Nicholas Turner, said “The development of palbociclib is one of the biggest advances in treatment for women with advanced breast cancer in the last two decades.

“This drug can offer women more precious time with their loved ones, and because it is a targeted treatment it is much kinder than chemotherapy, and enables many women to carry on with their lives normally.”

Cancer Research UK’s Professor Charles Swanton, said the results were “very encouraging.

“Although the treatment gave some people with breast cancer precious extra months, it’s not a cure and won’t work for everyone.

“So we need to understand more about breast cancer’s weak spots and exploit them to develop even more effective treatments in the future.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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