Studies Presented At Symposium Examine Efficacy Of Breast Cancer Treatments

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Article Date: 16 Dec 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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The following summarizes news coverage of two studies presented last week at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas.

~ Zometa: Women with breast cancer who take Novartis' bone-strengthening drug Zometa as part of their initial treatment experience significantly more tumor shrinkage and are less likely to require mastectomies, according to a preliminary study presented at the symposium, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. In a previous study released in June, Zometa -- which is prescribed to prevent bone loss caused by certain cancer treatments -- significantly cut the risk that cancer would recur in women who developed the disease before menopause. The preliminary study presented at the symposium analyzed Zometa treatment in 205 women taking part in an ongoing larger study of 3,360 women with post-menopausal breast cancer diagnoses. Participants received a Zometa infusion every three weeks for four to six months. Lead researcher Robert Coleman of the University of Sheffield in England said participants who were given Zometa in combination with chemotherapy had one-third more tumor shrinkage, making it more likely that they could be treated with lumpectomies rather than mastectomies. Eleven percent of participants treated with Zometa had a complete response -- meaning there was no evidence of cancer in their breasts or lymph nodes -- compared with 6% who received only chemotherapy (AP/Arizona Daily Star, 12/12).

~ Tykerb/Femara Combination: Treatment with a combination of GlaxoSmithKline's Tykerb and Novartis' Femara significantly delayed breast cancer progression in women with an aggressive form of the disease, according to a study presented at the symposium, Reuters reports. The study of 1,286 patients found that a sub-set of 219 women with aggressive HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer -- which involves breast tumors that overproduce the HER2 protein -- who took both drugs together experienced an average of 8.2 months of progression-free survival. Patients who received only Femara experienced an average of three months without progression. However, the benefit was less significant when the combination treatment was given to patients irrespective of HER2 status, with the treatment extending progression-free survival by just one month, to an average of 11.9 months. According to Reuters, it is unclear if the study produced sufficient evidence to convince oncologists to use the drug combination across a wide population group (Hirschler, Reuters, 12/11).

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