Dec 12, 2008 5:32 pm US/Eastern
Bone Drug Versus Breast Cancer
Zometa Plus Chemo Shrinks Breast Cancer Tumors More Than Chemo Alone
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Zometa - given to prevent bone loss caused by certain cancer treatments - also greatly cut the risk that cancer would recur in women who developed the disease before menopause.
CBS
Adding the bone-building drug Zometa to chemotherapy shrinks breast tumors better than chemo alone, according to medical research.
Zometa is currently used to help prevent the bone loss associated with some
cancer treatments. "But in the last two years, there's been a suggestion that it may reduce the risk of
breast cancer recurrence as well," according to Dr. Robert Coleman, MD, professor of medical oncology at the University of Sheffield in England.
He and colleagues put the drug to the test in 205 women with breast cancer. Prior to surgery to remove their tumors, half were given chemo and half were given chemo plus Zometa. The study was sponsored by Novartis AG, which makes Zometa.
Tumors shrank to 20.5 millimeters in size in the Zometa group, compared with 30 millimeters in the chemotherapy-alone group.
Also, tumors completely disappeared in 11% of women on Zometa vs. 6% of women given chemo alone.
As a result, fewer women given Zometa required a
mastectomy rather than breast-conserving surgery to remove their tumor, he says. About three-fourths of women in the chemotherapy group underwent a mastectomy vs. two-thirds in the combination group.
"This is the first evidence in humans that this drug may have a direct anticancer effect," Dr. Coleman said.
The research was presented at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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