Clinical trial of new drug for metastatic breast cancer patient shows 'unheard of' survival rates

A new clinical breast cancer drug trial has resulted in "unheard of" survival rates.

According to a recent story by Gina Kolata in The New York Times, for some patients with metastatic tumors that were not significantly affected by other forms of chemotherapy, the treatment halted their cancer's growth.

The findings of a new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, might "change how medicine [is] practiced," the article indicates.

Dr. Eric Winer, who was not involved in the study but who is director of the Yale Cancer Center and head of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, is quoted as saying that "this is a new standard of care. It affects a huge number of patients."

The Times piece notes that the new treatment, using an experimental drug (trastuzumab deruxtecan, sold as Enhehru) "that targeted cancer cells with laser like precision" was "stunningly successful, slowing tumor growth and extending life to an extent rarely seen with advanced cancers."

The trial, which focused on a mutant protein known as HER2, involved 557 patients. Tumors in those who took the experimental drug stopped growing for about 10 months, twice the length of those who took only standard chemotherapy. Those patients survived for almost two years, compared to less than a year and a half for those who received standard chemo.

Dr. Halle Moore

"It is unheard of for chemotherapy trials in metastatic breast cancer to improve survival in patients by six months," the story quotes Dr. Halle Moore, director of breast cancer oncology at the Cleveland Clinic, as saying.

Dr. Susan Domchek, a breast cancer specialist at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center, also is quoted to the effect that she plans to see — even before the Food and Drug Administration approves the drug, which has a wholesale price of about $14,000 every three weeks — if the data from the study will be sufficient to convince insurers to approve it.

More information about successful clinical trials can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

New treatments targeting HER2 tumors

Aggressive therapy set for patients with early stage of breast cancer

An aggressive new therapy that attacks an especially perilous early-stage breast cancer is ready for use on patients.

That, at least, is what's cited in an October-November AARP Magazine story regarding a type of cancer known as HER2+ER+.

The multi-disciplinary therapy was first proven beneficial in later stages of the disease, says the piece. 

The article also notes that "about a quarter of all breast cancers are HER2+" — tumors that have "higher levels of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, which tends to make them grow and spread faster than other kinds of breast cancer."

Dr. Vered Stearns

Dr. Vered Stearns, director of the women's malignancies program at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is quoted by the magazine as saying that new treatments that specifically target HER2 can now expected to be utilized in fighting the disease. 

Accompanying the AARP Magazine article are two noteworthy short sidebars:

• "Aromatase inhibitors (which reduce estrogen), used to prevent recurrence, may prevent breast cancer from developing in the first place."

• "An immunotherapy drug, atezolizumab, is being tested in combination with chemotherapy as a new line of treatment for hard-to-treat triple-negative cancers."

More information about other treatments and drugs can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.