Experts say up to 8,000 cancer patients in the United Kindom could receive a breakthrough drug shown to shrink tumors and slow the progression of the disease.
AL tests involving 700 people have returned “remarkable” results after showing the drug can double the time it takes for the disease to progress. Both advanced and more common breast cancer patients may benefit from the treatment when taken with the hormone. Results from the Phase III clinical trial were presented Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. 355 patients received the drug along with fulvestrant, a common hormone treatment for patients with advanced disease. Capivarsertib appears to complement hormonal therapy by blocking the activity of the cancer protein molecule AKT.
Researchers
Found that the drug, combined with hormone therapy, shrank tumors in 23% of patients compared to 12% of those given a placebo. Another important finding was that the time to disease progression in these patients increased from 3.6 months to 7.2 months. Professor Christian Helin, Executive Director of the ICR, said: This is a historic moment for the treatment of advanced forms of the most common type of breast cancer.
Capivasertib may offer an entirely new treatment option for these patients. This is a great success story for UK science as the discovery and development of capivasertib demonstrates the benefits of collaboration between academia, charities and industry to develop innovative new therapies. For people with cancer as soon as possible. He added: “Even with the best current treatments, people with this advanced form of breast cancer will eventually find that their cancer is no longer responding to treatment and is progressing. The drug of this type, in combination with hormone therapy, can slow the progression of these advanced cancers.” “It can shrink
tumors in about a third of the cases.
We believe this new treatment could allow more women and men to live well and longer with breast cancer. AstraZeneca is currently making the drug after completing a drug discovery research program at the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) in London.
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