Armed antibody delays spread of certain breast cancers

cp418

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/03/us-cancer-breast-roche-idUSBRE85201Y20120603

Armed antibody delays spread of certain breast cancers

cp418

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/47667365/#47667365

Breast cancer's magic bullet?

cp418

Experimental Drug May Delay Breast Cancer Progression, Prolong Lives.

A study on a new treatment for breast cancer received extensive coverage, in print and online as well as on two national news broadcasts.

        NBC Nightly News (6/3, story 7, 2:20, Holt) reported, "Tonight we're learning about a new drug that doctors and scientists hope could help about a quarter of the 230,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in the US each year."

        ABC World News (6/3, story 6, 2:10, Muir) reported, "A new drug cocktail...works like a heat-seeking missile that heads straight for the cancer."

        The New York Times (6/3, A23, Pollack, Subscription Publication) reported that T-DM1, "a drug that delivers a powerful poison to tumors without some of the side effects of traditional treatments can delay the worsening of breast cancer and also appears to substantially prolong lives, according to" a new study. In addition to "representing an advance in treating breast cancer, the success in the clinical trial validates an idea that is now being pursued by numerous pharmaceutical companies to treat various types of cancer in a way that delivers drugs to cancerous cells while sparing healthy ones."

        The Wall Street Journal (6/4, B5, Dooren, Subscription Publication) reports that the findings are to be presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

        On its website, ABC News (6/3, Carollo) reported, "T-DM1 is a combination of Herceptin, a drug commonly used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer, and an experimental drug called emtansine, or DM-1."

        USA Today (6/3, Szabo) reported that researchers "tested T-DM1 in a study of nearly 1,000 women with advanced cancers who had been on Herceptin [trastuzumab], but who are no longer benefitting from it." All participants "had breast cancers that make lots of HER2." The investigators found that "T-DM1 kept these women's cancers in check for 9.6 months, about three months longer than standard therapy, which combines the anti-cancer pills Tykerb [lapatinib] and Xeloda [capecitabine], according to the study."

        In an article appearing on more than 200 websites, the AP (6/3) reported, "More importantly, the treatment seems likely to improve survival; it will take more time to know for sure. After two years, 65 percent of women who received it were still alive versus 47 percent of those in a comparison group given two standard cancer drugs." This "margin fell just short of the very strict criteria researchers set for stopping the study and declaring the new treatment a winner, and they hope the benefit becomes more clear with time."

        Bloomberg News (6/3, Kresge, Langreth) reported that "the study results 'are the first proof' that harnessing an antibody to deliver a toxic dose of chemotherapy straight into a solid tumor can work, said Kimberly Blackwell, a lead author of the study."

        According to AFP (6/3, Santini), Blackwell said that, "as a clinician who takes care of a lot of breast cancer patients, I'm pleased that this drug has very little dose-limiting toxicity. Patients don't lose their hair from this drug." Blackwell added, "For patients facing metastatic breast cancer, this is a breakthrough."

        MedPage Today (6/3, Phend) reported that according to Blackwell, "I think this will offer a very important therapeutic option for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer."

        Medscape (6/3, Nelson) reported, "'We've taught an old friend a new trick -- we're using [trastuzumab] as a delivery vehicle,' said Andrew D. Seidman, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City who was not involved with the trial." The UK's Press Association (6/3) and Reuters (6/3, Beasley) also cover the story.

pupmom

It sounds so for HER+ bc. 

BaseballFan

Any word of a similar magic bullet for HER2-?