This is a new drug taken before any kind of surgery.  This a a drug that kills the tumor when cancer is first found.  This is the first drug of it’s kind.  It won’t eliminate imagethe need for surgery doctors state but if it shrinks the tumor before hand obviously there’s less tissue to be removed.  The drug is made by Roche and is for women with early stage breast cancer who face a high risk of  the cancer spreading.  This goes back to the molecule called HER-2 which most of us have heard about by now. 

Roche has already enrolled 4800 patients for a long term follow up study.  Perjeta was combined with Herceptin and 39% of women saw their cancer reach undetectable levels, a good thing.  All women in the initial test under went surgery as that was the only way to determine the absence or presence of any cancer cells after treatment.  Only 20% of women are receptive to the treatment but that’s a lot better than zero by a long shot. 


(KTVI) – There is a new medicine to treat breast cancer before surgery.  It’s the first drug of its kind approved for use.

Dr. Theresa Schwartz is a breast surgeon with Saint Louis University Hospital and she talks about  “Perjeta.”

It was just approved by the FDA. It benefits women with a form of early-stage breast cancer who face a high risk of having their cancer spread to other parts of the body.

0 comments :

Post a Comment

 
Top
Google Analytics Alternative