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A new form of medication dramatically improves the survival rate of pre-menopausal women with the most common type of bad cancer, researchers said Saturday, citing the results of an international clinical trial.
The findings, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, showed that the addition of ribociclib, a cell cycle inhibitor, increased survival rates to 70% after three years and half.
The mortality rate was 29% lower than that at which patients were randomly badigned with placebo.
Lead author, Sara Hurvitz, told AFP that the study was focused on hormone receptor-positive bad cancer, which accounts for two-thirds of all bad cancer cases at younger women and who is usually treated with therapies that block the production of estrogen.
"You can actually get synergy, or better response, better cancer destruction, by adding one of those cell cycle inhibitors" to the suppression of hormones, Hurvitz said.
The drug works by inhibiting the activity of cancer cell promoter enzymes known as cyclin-dependent 4: 6 kinases.
The treatment is less toxic than traditional chemotherapy because it more selectively targets cancer cells, blocking their ability to multiply.
Approximately 268,000 new cases of bad cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the United States in 2019, while the advanced form of the disease is the leading cause of cancer death among women aged 20 to 59 years.
Growing threat
Although advanced bad cancer is less common among younger women, its incidence increased by 2% per year between 1978 and 2008 among women aged 20 to 39, according to a previous study.
The new trial, which involved more than 670 cases, included only women under 59 years old with advanced stage 4 cancer for whom they had not yet completed received hormone blocking treatment.
"These are patients who tend to be diagnosed later, at a later stage of their illness, because we do not have optimal screening modalities for young women," Hurvitz said.
In addition, patients who develop early-stage bad cancer tend to have more complex cases.
"That's what makes us so enthusiastic because it's a therapy that affects so many patients with advanced disease," Hurvitz added.
One pill is given daily for 21 days, followed by seven days of rest to allow the body to recover, since two-thirds of patients experience a moderate to severe decline in white blood cell counts.
Jamie Bennett, spokesman for Novartis, which markets the drug under the brand name Kisqali and funded the research, said the cost of taking this dose was $ 12,553.
But, she added, "the majority of US patients with commercial insurance will pay $ 0 per month for their Kisqali prescription."
Metastatic bad cancer is incurable and the majority of women taking this medication will require treatment for the rest of their lives.
"Significant benefit for survival"
Oncologist Harold Burstein, who did not participate in the research, said it was "an important study" after establishing that the use of cyclin inhibitors "results in a significant benefit for women's survival".
Burstein, who works for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said: "Hopefully this data will allow this product to reach more women around the world, especially in healthcare systems that value the value rigorous access to medicines. "
Hurvitz said she was interested in studying whether ribociclib could help reduce cancer in the egg at an early stage.
"We want to go to women who have been diagnosed with early stage disease, small tumors, tumors that have not gone to the lymph nodes or gone to other parts of the body, and see if we can stop it from coming back later, "she says.
A new global clinical trial is underway.
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