Breast Cancer Therapy: Slowing Disease, Improving Survival
A groundbreaking triple therapy is revolutionizing treatment for advanced breast cancer, offering new hope and extending lives. This innovative combination of inavolisib, palbociclib, and fulvestrant is significantly slowing disease progression and improving survival rates by seven months, according to recent trials. The therapy, targeting PIK3CA-mutated HR+, HER2- breast cancer, also delayed disease progression for nearly ten months, giving patients a substantial reprieve from chemotherapy. With promising results from an international study, the triple therapy could soon become a standard treatment. News Directory 3 is following these exciting developments. Discover what’s next for breast cancer patients.
Triple therapy Shows Promise for Advanced Breast Cancer Treatment
Updated June 5, 2023
A novel triple therapy is offering new hope for patients battling aggressive, advanced breast cancer. Research indicates the treatment slows disease progression, postpones the need for chemotherapy, and extends survival rates.
The combination therapy features two targeted drugs,inavolisib and palbociclib,along with the hormone therapy fulvestrant. The international trial, which included 325 patients from 28 countries, including the U.S., the U.K. and Australia,demonstrated an average overall survival advancement of seven months compared to a control group receiving only palbociclib and fulvestrant.
The study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) meeting in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also revealed that the triple therapy delayed disease progression by an average of 17.2 months, compared to 7.3 months in the control group. Furthermore, patients on inavolisib were able to postpone subsequent chemotherapy for almost two years longer.
Experts suggest the triple therapy shows potential for targeting PIK3CA-mutated HR+, HER2- breast cancer, a common form of the disease. Approximately 70% of patients have HR+, HER2- breast cancer, with PIK3CA mutations present in 35% to 40% of HR+ breast cancers. These mutations are often linked to tumor growth,disease progression,and treatment resistance.
The trial also indicated a notable reduction in cancer growth in about 62.7% of patients receiving the triple therapy, compared to 28% in the control group. The new drug, inavolisib, functions by blocking the activity of the PIK3CA protein. The inavolisib combination was generally well-tolerated, with few patients experiencing side effects that led to treatment discontinuation.
Nick Turner, professor of molecular oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and consultant medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, led a U.K. arm of the trial.
What’s next
Researchers are optimistic that this new triple therapy for advanced breast cancer will become a standard treatment option for patients with HR+, HER2- breast cancer and a PIK3CA mutation, offering significant improvements in both survival and quality of life.