So often, promising medical studies fan enthusiasm among people suffering from a vexing illness, only to leave them waiting months or years while the new drug or medical device clears regulatory hurdles.
Not this time: A trio of drugs proved significantly better at slowing the growth of an aggressive type of breast cancer than the conventional drug regimen, according to a study led by Mayo Clinic Jacksonville researchers. And patients don't have to wait to try it.
That's because the pharmaceuticals are already on the market; all doctors need to do is combine them.
The trial mixed two chemotherapy drugs, called capecitabine and vinorelbine, and a drug called Herceptin, used to treat patients whose breast cancer is the aggressive HER2-positive form. In addition to its greater potency, the treatment doesn't cause hair loss - something that the conventional regimen of drugs for such patients can't say.
Confirming observations from earlier studies, the trial showed that the three drugs, working in concert, shrank tumors substantially for 67 percent of the study's participants. Pairing one chemotherapy drug with Herceptin, as is usually prescribed, gets such results about 50 percent of the time, said Winston Tan, an oncologist at Mayo Jacksonville and the study's lead researcher.
The team announced its findings May 14. The findings are to be presented today in Orlando with a poster at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's conference.
The team's findings only apply to the 25 to 30 percent of breast cancer patients whose cancer cells "overexpress" the HER2 gene, which causes cells to divide. Too much of it and breast cancer (among other types of cancer) spreads faster, reducing a patient's chances of being cured.
Tan and his colleagues analyzed the drug regimen's impact on the sickest of HER2-positive patients - those whose breast cancer had already spread to other parts of the body. In all, they studied 45 patients in the United States and Canada, leading to some startling results.
"We actually exceeded the goals we thought we'd get with these treatments," said Edith Perez, director of Mayo's Breast Center in Jacksonville and a well-known cancer researcher.
For instance: Of the 21 women who had prior treatments, 16 responded to the three drugs, with their tumors decreasing in size by at least 30 percent, Perez said. She hopes to start a trial involving patients split into groups to determine how the regimen performs against existing treatment protocols.
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