A new experimental drug delayed the growth of advanced breast cancer in women who had stopped responding to the drug Herceptin and were out of treatment options, doctors reported Saturday June 3 2006.
The experimental drug, Tykerb, worked so well that an international study of it was stopped early, in April, based on results in 321 women.
Those who received Tykerb plus the chemotherapy drug Xeloda had no growth of their tumors for 8 1/2 months. That compares to 4 1/2 months for those given only Xeloda.
Tykerb's manufacturer, British-based GlaxoSmithKline, said it would expand global access to the drug under compassionate use provisions, and would seek approval to sell it in the United States and elsewhere later this year.
"This is huge," said Dr. Roy Herbst, a cancer specialist at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who had no role in the study but has consulted for Glaxo in the past. "The next step will be to use it in patients instead of Herceptin up front," to see whether it is more effective, he said.
Herceptin and Tykerb are members of a new generation of cancer medicines that more precisely target tumors without killing lots of healthy cells. Herceptin has been an important option for many women with advanced breast cancer, but eventually it stops working and women succumb to the disease.
Tykerb works in a similar yet completely novel way. Like Herceptin, it targets a protein called HER-2/neu, which is made in abnormally large quantities in roughly one-fourth of all breast cancers. Herceptin blocks the protein on the cell's surface; Tykerb does it inside the cell, and blocks a second abnormal protein, too.
In the study, Tykerb also showed signs of being able to prevent cancer from spreading to the brain. That happened to four of the 161 women given Tykerb and Xeloda, compared to 16 of the 160 women given Xeloda alone.
Tykerb has one big advantage over Herceptin -- it's a pill instead of an intravenous drug, which should make it cheaper and easier to use, doctors said.
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Hi!
I saw your post on YSC and then came to your blogspot. I have one too, but it's out of date! I am an 8 yr survivor, 6 with mets. I have bone mets like everywhere!
I also live in Miami, been in FL since 1995. I am originally from NY..totally lost my accent!
Also, I was on a trial for Lapatinib, which was Tykerb's name in trials. I did great on it, then I had some marker elevation and pain. But, they never found anything on a scan, so I am not sure it even stopped working. I had that alone, no chemo with it. My email is lcshipes@bellsouth.net. Send me an email!
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