New drugs help breast cancer survival rates hit 30-year high

THOUSANDS of women are beating breast cancer, as death rates have fallen almost 50 per cent from their peak.

A record high of about 15,600 women lost their lives to the disease 30 years ago.

But now, 11,400 a year are dying from breast cancer, figures from Cancer Research UK show.

Survival rates are at a 30-year high – 44 per cent up on 1989.

More than 130,000 deaths have been avoided since then, the charity said.

A new generation of drugs, which women fought to get prescribed on the NHS, are likely to be the main reason for the rise in survival.

But the NHS breast screening programme may also have raised women’s odds of beating the disease, catching about a quarter of cases before symptoms develop.

Figures show 98 per cent of women who spot breast cancer early, through screening or spotting the signs, will survive the next five years.

Only around a quarter of those who are diagnosed late will be alive five years later. Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘ These numbers show that research is working, and we should celebrate the considerable progress that’s been made – but while lives are still being lost, our work is not done yet.

‘Our ongoing research into the biology of breast cancer is vital. With this increased understanding, we’re developing new lifesaving treatments – making them kinder, more effective, and more personalised to individual people.’

Some experts fear rising obesity will see breast cancer deaths increase again, with women also putting their health at risk through excessive drinking.

But despite a small drop in survival in 2016, when 11,563 women died, the latest figures for 2017 show women are more likely to survive breast cancer than at any point since 1989.

This is largely thanks to three types of wonder drug that fight cancer by cutting off its fuel.

Almost three quarters of women with breast cancer have better odds because of the hormone treatments tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors, which starve tumours of the oestrogen they rely on to grow.

Then there is Herceptin, which was called the most important breast cancer treatment in 25 years when it was finally approved for early- stage patients in 2006. It works by targeting proteins on the suring

‘Early diagnosis is key’

face of breast cells in order to stop them dividing.

Chemotherapy has also improved in the past 30 years, with new drugs called taxanes found to boost survival in women whose breast cancer has spread.

The next step for patients is personalised medicine, which will provide women with individual treatment based on the genetic makeup of their cancer.

The figures have been released to mark breast cancer awareness month. Experts are reminding women that early signs include a lump or thickenin the breast, skin changes, breast pain and nipples changing position or leaking.

Deborah Huggins, a 62-year-old mother of two from Devon, was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 after feeling a lump in her breast.

She said: ‘I had no history of breast cancer in the family and my diagnosis had such an effect on me, my friends and family.

‘I did not find chemotherapy easy, but I didn’t let it beat me. Early diagnosis is key and I really want to help get that message across – I’m very breast-aware now and keen to help others.’