Kirsty Mckenzie
EXPERTS have hailed a ‘Trojan horse’ drug that helps to trick cancer cells and slow down the advance of breast cancer in over 75% of patients.
The drug in the DESTINY-Breast 03 trial was presented this Saturday at the congress of the European Society of Oncological Medicine in what experts have called ‘the biggest improvement in years’ for breast cancer treatment.
DESTINY can halt the disease for around 12 months, putting off the need for further chemotherapy and allowing women to have the best quality of life possible.
It is even capable of eliminating the tumor in some cases.
The drug slowed down the advancement of cancer in 75.8% of the patients and in 16% of cases the tumor disappeared after the administration of the new drug.
“This means that it would potentially be possible for a group of these patients to be cured,” said Dr. Javier Cortes, the first author of the study.
Dr. Javier Cortes added: “We are probably facing one of the best results in the history of breast cancer thanks to a new treatment that acts like a Trojan horse.”
Although the results of this trial were limited to HER2-positive breast cancer patients, its application is also being studied in HER2-negative patients and even in other types of tumors, such as colorectal and lung.
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