LOS ANGELES, Sept 30 — A study presented during the Presidential Symposium at the 2019 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2019 has demonstrated that a treatment combining a targeted therapy drug with hormonal therapy increases positive outcomes for women suffering from aggressive breast cancer.
The trial, which was conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), followed 726 menopausal women with hormone-receptor positive/HER2- breast cancer advanced breast cancer, a form of cancer which is often treated with endocrine (hormone) therapy, which curbs hormones’ stimulating effect on cancer cells.
The study’s subjects were split into several groups: some were administered a therapeutic protocol combining hormone therapy by way of antiœstrogenic fulvestrant with ribociclib, a medication that hinders the process that causes cancer cells to grow. Other were treated with fulvestrant.
Results showed 28 per cent reduction in the risk of death in the combined therapy group. After 42 months, the estimated survival rate was over 58 per cent for that same group versus 46 per cent for the women who were treated with hormone therapy exclusively.
“(W)e found there’s a significant difference when you use the combination of ribociclib with hormone therapy as the first line of therapy,” said study lead Dr Dennis Slamon, chair of hematology/oncology and director of Clinical/Translational Research at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“There is absolutely no reason to wait to give women this treatment. This should be the new standard.” — AFP-Relaxnews
