Newly identified drug could help thousands in Britain living with an aggressive type of breast cancer

According to a study funded by charity Breast Cancer Now, thousands of women living in the UK suffering from an aggressive type of breast cancer could be helped by a newly identified drug.

The study, which was carried out by The Institute of Cancer Research, found medicine currently used to help sufferers of other breast cancers that have spread to another area of the body, could be used to help around a fifth of women who have triple negative breast cancer.

There are currently around 55,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year, approximately one in five of those being triple negative. Younger and black women are more likely to develop this form of cancer, which is generally more aggressive than others.

Researchers’ realisation that the drug Palbociclib could be used more widely than previously thought could “provide a much-needed targeted treatment” for women who are at higher risk of having their cancer spread more rapidly, becoming incurable and often unresponsive to conventional than conventional chemotherapy.

The charity’s Dr Simon Vincent, said “It’s hugely exciting that this research has uncovered a new positive use for Palbociclib as a targeted treatment for some women living with triple negative breast cancer.

“Each year, around 8,000 UK women are diagnosed with this aggressive form of breast cancer and we desperately need new, effective ways to treat them and stop them dying from this devastating disease. We hope that if clinical trials confirm that Palbociclib is beneficial for some of these women, it will be advanced through the approval process and made available for those who need it as quickly as possible.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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