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On the occasion of the celebration of Roche's Press Day, the director of the Cancer Research Center in America explained that genomic understanding of diseases has influenced cancer mortality in the United States. within the last 15 years. "We have managed to develop drugs that allow us to act faster, with more precise, more directed, less toxic, shorter treatments and in breast cancer, we have seen a decrease in mortality", he explains.
He added that this translates into thousands of patients whose life expectancy may be longer.
Breast cancer is most common among Latin American women and its incidence is increasing in the region. In 2012, about 152,000 new cases were diagnosed and if this trend continues, it is expected that more than 240,000 women will be diagnosed in 2030, an increase of 57%.
The specialist explained that he had knowledge of the genome and its processes in the body, but had failed to apply this knowledge to patients.
"We continued to treat patients in the same way despite better knowledge of biology". expert during Roche Press Day, an educational forum for communicators in Latin America.
Álvarez said that with the development of white therapies now, the treatment for patients is more directed, which "allows to act faster, more accurately"
He adds that chemotherapy, one of the most common cancer treatments for 50 years, shoot a gun in the air at night, but now targeted therapies are much more accurate and only attack that the malignant cells. "
Daniel Ciriano, medical director of Roche Pharma Latin America, explained that through cancer research It was understood that not all tumors are identical, which leads to more personalized treatments.
"There are tumors that have a type of receptor called HER2 positive, they are particularly aggressive and we now have specific agents for this type of tumor," said Ciriano.
The specialist explained that HER2 positive affects about one in five women.
He indicated that, in the case of breast cancer, there are hormone receptor tumors. positive, which makes them more aggressive and grows faster.
"In the case of breast cancer, there is a receptor called HER2 positive that affects one of the two, however, new treatments have blocked these hormone receptors, which has increased the remission (control) of disease up to 20%.
"Today, we can not talk about cure, but when we see that it was possible to increase the rate of remission if long time, that we get a better quality of life, it's encouraging, "he said.
However, Ciriano agreed that one of the main challenges remains the timely diagnosis" nothing replaces the prevention or early treatment. "
Ricardo Álvarez agreed that early diagnosis is important, however, in the region, there is still a lack of education of medical staff and patients.
Education People should know that they must go to the doctor when they are in good health. "
According to the specialist, a late diagnosis considerably reduces the patient's chances of survival.
It is estimated that between 30 and 40 years old Breast cancer is diagnosed in advanced metastatic stage in Latin America
. To reduce cancer mortality rates, patients should be made accountable for health and governments should ensure social policies for screening and screening. access to new drugs
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer screening programs must reach 70% of the target population to make a difference.
In the countries of Latin America that have available data, none is close to this objective
In Colombia, for example, this figure is between 32 and 46%, while Mexico "The problem is that in the region we have not had continuous policies, when policies change, it also completely changes the health system in the countries," he lamented.
He stressed that the fight against cancer will not give results in two or three years and to have positive results, it is essential to invest time, effort and resources, economic and human. EFE / RA
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