Breakthrough drug in war on cancer
Published: January 3, 2006
A WONDER drug that dramatically cuts the risk of breast cancer returning has been pioneered in Manchester.
Around 180 patients at Withington and Christie hospitals were among the first to benefit from Femara, which boosts their chances of surviving disease-free five years after surgery.
These patients are a third less likely to suffer a recurrence of the disease than those given existing treatment. [Living Beyond Breast Cancer : A Survivor’s Guide for When Treatment Ends and the Rest of Your Life Begins]
The drug is already used to reduce tumours before surgery but this latest trial, involving 8,000 women in 28 countries, was designed to test its effectiveness on post-menopausal women who faced a high risk of their cancer returning.
Prof Nigel Bundred, who works at Wythenshawe and Christie, led the trial in Manchester, where almost half of the 400 Britons involved in the study were treated. He said: “These are breakthrough results, they show a very significant improvement on existing treatment and give hope to women who’ve had breast cancer and have a high risk of it recurring.
“We are using this drug routinely in several different ways now and there are more studies continuing which will enable us to work out how to use this drug in combination with existing treatments for each patient.
“We make it a priority to be involved in trials because it means our patients can benefit from new treatments first.”
The trial compared the drug with tamoxifen which until now has been regarded as the gold standard for treatment.
The results helped persuade the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to approve the use of the drug for postmenopausal women with early breast cancer straight after surgery and it should become available on the NHS.
Jean Broadhead, 69, from Davyhulme, started cancer treatment at Christie’s after a routine scan revealed a small lump in her breast. She has been taking Femara for four-and-a-half years.
Jean, a retired teacher who has two sons and three grand-children, said: “Being diagnosed with cancer was a bombshell but I was determined it wouldn’t beat me. I’ve had no problems at all and I’m delighted to hear the study results.
” I have several friends who’ve bad side effects on tamoxifen and I trusted my specialist completely.
“Taking part in the trial was my way of fighting the cancer and giving something back, I saw it as my way of helping develop better treatments.”
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