New Drug Cocktail Against Breast Cancer

Studies found that combining Avastin, a drug against cancer, with chemotherapy can double the chances for survival among women with breast cancer. Cancer sufferers, who cannot be treated with Herceptin, another drug against breast cancer, can now improve their chances of recovery with a treatment that starves tumors of blood.

Avastin is designed to block the nutrients that feed a tumor and has been shown to significantly slow down the progress of the disease. The drug, already used to treat bowel cancer, has been used with the chemo drug Taxol. The two drugs fight the cancer on different levels. The chemotherapy treatment attacks the tumor while Avastin interferes with the formation of blood vessels that starve it of nutrients.

Cancer was stable for 11.4 months for the women who took the 2 drugs combined, as opposed to 6.11 months in patients who only took Taxol. The research boosts the hope for 80% of patients suffering from breast cancer, who have a tumor with a different genetic pattern that Herceptin cannot treat. Herceptin has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer reappearance to half, targeting a protein produced by cancer with the HER2 gene.

It is a good option for only about 1 in 5 patients with this illness. Avastin, also known as bevacizumab and produced by the Roche company, is recommended for the rest of the patients.

Robin Zon, who took part in the team of researchers, stated: "These results are good news for people with breast cancer. We have shown that this can work in some patients (with advanced breast cancer). By proving this activity, the hope is that we can take bevacizumab (Avastin) to the population with cancer in the breast and lymph nodes and improve the chance of curing them."