New breast cancer drug
Some important news tonight for breast cancer survivors.
A new drug combination shows promise in stopping a recurrence of the cancer, and it's available right now.
Like millions of Americans, 76-year-old Anita Trauma never thought she would be fighting cancer.
�It's a bit demoralizing because there is no cancer in my family. I'm in good health. I don't smoke. I�m not overweight. I didn't think I would get cancer of any kind, but I did."
But she was diagnosed with breast cancer and ended up having a mastectomy.
She was placed on Tamoxifen- a medicine that counteracts estrogen and helps to prevent some breast cancer tumors.
But it only works for five years.
That's when she became part of a clinical study using another anti-estrogen drug called Letrozole- or Femara.
Researchers say Tamoxifen followed by Letrizole dramatically reduced the risk that some women's cancers would ever return.
�We had great news about ten years ago when we saw the breakthrough of Tamoxifen, this is the second great breakthrough after that."
In fact, the results with Letrizole were so good the study had to be stopped early.
"The administration of Letrizole has resulted in a further reduction of 43%. That's almost a 50% reduction in all of them: recurrence in the same breast, appearance of cancer in the opposite breast, and the dissemination of cancer."
That means hundreds of thousands of women, like Anita, could be living cancer free longer, and perhaps forever.
Both Femara and Tamoxifen are only used to treat post-menopausal women with breast cancer that's estrogen-driven.
If you fit into this category, you should talk with your doctor about whether this drug is right for you.
Femara Web Site
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