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While a complete cure for cancer has yet to be discovered, many scientists are working hard to improve treatment regimens and drugs to improve the survival rate among patients. Recently, a group of researchers announced that a new drug under clinical trial, specifically for breast cancer, is showing a great deal of potential.
The study, funded by Novartis, observed the effectivity of “Kisqali combination therapy” — ribociclib inhibitor added to the common endocrine treatment — among female breast cancer patients. Latest updates that showed positive results were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting that took place this weekend in Chicago.
Researchers observed female breast cancer patients in a clinical trial with a 42-month follow-up window. Scientists reported seeing a 70.2 percent survival rate among the subjects who received Kisqali. That is around 24 percent better than the survival rate for women who only undergoes endocrine therapy. The clinical trial took place in 30 countries and gathered participants within ages 18-59 who are all in the premenopausal stage.
“Overall survival benefit is considered the ‘gold standard’ in cancer trials but is challenging to achieve in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer,” lead author Dr. Sara Hurvitz said in a statement. “Impactful results like these ribociclib findings are what we wish for in every clinical trial, and to achieve overall survival improvement in an incurable disease, like metastatic breast cancer, is truly an outstanding advancement for patients.”
This is a welcome breakthrough while a cancer cure remains elusive. Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed (first among women) type of cancer around the world. Despite the available treatments, the World Health Organization reported there were more than two million new cases of breast cancer in both sexes in 2018. In the same year, breast cancer was reportedly the fifth most deadly type of cancer with 626,679 men and women dying from this illness.
