DRUG BEATS THE ODDS FOR BREAST CANCER!
AGROUNDBREAKING drug — recently approved by the FDA for earlystage breast cancer patients with BRCA gene mutations — can significantly slash the risk of dying from the deadly disease!
Olaparib, marketed under the brand Lynparza, was already in use for advanced ovarian cancer and breast cancer patients. But a new study by an international group of researchers is the first to show the pill cuts the death risk among earlystage breast cancer patients by a whopping 32 percent!
Dr. Kristian Helin of the U.K.’s Institute of Cancer Research calls his team’s work “a major step forward” that increases chances of patients “remaining cancerfree” and “potentially being cured after initial treatment!”
Scientists studied almost 2,000 women with early-stage cancer who all had BRCA1 or
BRCA2 mutations and had undergone standard cancer treatment — including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Half were given 300mg of olaparib twice daily for a year, while the others received a placebo. Death rates were nearly a third lower among those who received the drug. Patients have been followed for four years so far.
“Olaparib could save lives and prevent recurrence in some women — and men — living with primary breast cancer with an inherited altered BRCA gene,” says
Dr. Simon Vincent of the U.K.’s Breast Cancer Now organization.
Everyone has protective BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. But mutations can cause cells to malfunction, substantially raising the risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.
About one in 400 people have a faulty BRCA gene, which is linked to around 5 percent of all breast cancer cases.
“Girl, Interrupted” Oscar winner Angelina Jolie made headlines in 2013 for undergoing a preventive double mastectomy after testing positive for the mutated BRCA1 gene — and losing eight relatives to cancer, including her mother, Marcheline Bertrand.