A new treatment gives breast cancer patients new hope

                                        Breast cancer

 A "Revolutionary Treatment" Gives Breast Cancer Patients New Hope

Research results revealed on Saturday that an experimental treatment from Pfizer and Arvinas delayed the progression of breast cancer by more than three months compared to AstraZeneca's Faslodex in patients with a specific genetic mutation.

The results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial found that the experimental drug febidextrant extended progression-free survival among patients with ES1 mutations by five months, compared to about two months for Faslodex.

The latest data follows preliminary study results in March. Those results showed a benefit for febidextrant in patients with the mutations but no benefit for a broader group of patients, sending Arvinas shares to a record low. New, more detailed data released Saturday showed that febdigestrant increased survival in the larger group of patients by 3.8 months, compared to 3.6 months for Faslodex.

The late-stage study included 624 patients previously treated for a type of breast cancer that accounts for nearly 70 percent of all similar cancers. "It's clear that it (Faslodex) faces some challenges now," said Erica Hamilton, a co-author of the study, adding that it is injected into the muscle, compared to the more convenient oral doses of febdigestrant.

Febdigestrant belongs to a new class of drugs called Protac ER, which are designed to target and inhibit proteins that drive tumor growth. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer accounts for about one-third of all new female cancers each year in the United States.