New breast cancer treatment offers hope of longer life to younger women

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/01/new-breast-cancer-treatment-offers-longer-life-to-younger-women-ribociclib

New breast cancer treatment offers hope of longer life to younger women

Combining ribociclib with hormone therapy found to cut risk of death by up to a third

Jamie Doward

Sat 1 Jun 2019 16.59 BST Last modified on Sat 1 Jun 2019 17.02 BST

Younger women with breast cancer have been given the hope of living longer after what is described as “one of the greatest advances in breast cancer research in recent decades”.

Adding ribociclib, a targeted drug that disrupts cancer cells, to standard hormone therapy was found to boost survival among premenopausal patients who have an advanced form of the disease.

The risk of death was cut by almost a third compared with those treated with hormone therapy alone, according to the study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago.

“This is indescribably good news for patients and their families,” said Lady Delyth Morgan, the chief executive at Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Now.

The research, led by Dr Sara Hurvitz of the University of California in Los Angeles, followed 672 pre-menopausal women under the age of 59 who had advanced hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

The patients were assigned either ribociclib, which targets and interferes with processes in the cells that cause cancer to grow, or a placebo. All the women also received hormone therapy.

After 42 months, 70% of those treated with the combination therapy were still alive, compared with 46% of those who received just hormone therapy.
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[question everything]

1. An important study

It has been known that breast cancer in younger women is more virulent.

Even though one of the participant, after initially shrinking her liver cancer, it has now returned there. Still, each study helps. I am grateful to all the people who have participated in clinical studies.