Breast cancer tumours killed in 11 days with 'staggering' new therapy
Experts hail findings as 'astonishing' and suggest results of trial for one of most aggressive forms of breast cancer could revolutionise future treatment
Scientists wanted to test the new combination therapy on tumours, to measure how effective it was at killing cancer cells Photo: Alamy
A “staggering” new breast cancer therapy has destroyed deadly tumours in just 11 days, trials have shown.
Experts hailed the findings as “astonishing" and said it is the first time a drug for the disease has ever shown such a response.
They suggested the results of the trial, in women with one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, could revolutionise future treatment of other types of disease.
The combined drug therapy - which would cost around £1,500 for treatment - entirely destroyed tumours as large as 3cm.
The findings mean that in future, thousands of women might be spared gruelling rounds ofchemotherapy that normally follow surgery, experts said.
The UK study involved women suffering from one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer - HER2 positive - who were given a combination of two targeted drugs.
Almost nine in 10 women showed some response to the treatment - meaning the number of cancer cells began to fall. In one in four cases, the powerful cocktail saw tumours shrink significantly, and in some cases totally vanish.
The drug was shown to be effective even in cases where disease had spread to the lymph nodes, the study, presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Amsterdam, found.
Researchers said those taking part in the trial were left astounded at the “mind-blowing” effect of combining two drugs - Herceptin, the current standard treatment for such cases, with a second drug called Tyverb.
They said the breakthrough could radically change future treatment of breast cancer, as treatment with high-cost drugs for less than a fortnight was “dirt cheap”.
Lead researcher Professor Nigel Bundred, professor of surgical oncology at the University of Manchester, said: “For solid tumours to disappear in 11 days is unheard of. These are mind-boggling results.”
