http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...e_id=1774&ct=5
Chemo-free cancer cure 'will save thousands'
by JENNY HOPE
Horomone therapry medicine may halt the need fot chemotherapy in breast
cancer sufferers
New drugs for breast cancer could save thousands of lives a year without the
need for gruelling chemotherapy.
Trials have shown that hormone therapy drugs are at least as effective as
chemotherapy in women under 40 - but with fewer side effects.
It means younger cancer patients could still be able to have children.
Experts believe up to 5,500 women each year who develop breast cancer before
the menopause would benefit from drugs such as
Zoladex, which is given once
a month as an implant under the skin of the stomach.
The drugs work in cancers that are hormonesensitive, meaning they are
stimulated by oestrogen. Around two-thirds of cancers in younger women are
hormone-sensitive.
The latest British trials, reported today in The Lancet, also showed that
the drugs can boost the effects of both chemotherapy or
tamoxifen.
Such double treatment cut the recurrence of cancer by nearly 13 per cent and
reduced the death rate by 15 per cent.
Kate Law, head of clinical trials at Cancer Research UK, said last night:
'Breast cancer is always a shocking diagnosis but it is particularly sad
when its treatment results in women being unable to have children.
"This is a very encouraging finding and suggests treatment for some women
could be less devastating, while being equally effective as conventional
chemotherapy."
Drugs such as Zoladex, also known as goserelin, were originally developed to
treat prostate cancer.
They have been used against breast cancer for some years, but experts say
the latest study provides the most solid evidence yet that the regime can
save women's fertility as well as their lives.
Made by AstraZeneca, Zoladex costs just £84 a month.
Maria Leadbeater, Clinical Nurse Specialist at Breast Cancer Care, said:
"These drugs have been licensed for many years, and there should be no
barrier to women receiving them if there is a clinical need.
"This study gives us a better understanding of their effectiveness.
"These drugs are another treatment option for younger women with breast
cancer and could help to even further reduce the risk of the disease
returning when added to chemotherapy or drugs like tamoxifen.
"They can be offered on their own or as an alternative to techniques that
permanently stop ovaries producing oestrogen, but this must be assessed on
an individual basis.
"This would be particularly of interest to many of the younger women we
support who are looking to conserve their fertility."
After surgery to remove tumours, drugs are used to reduce or switch off the
body's supply of oestrogen, cutting the risk of the cancer coming back.
But while chemotherapy is effective at stopping the ovaries from producing
oestrogen, it can cause permanent infertility and unpleasant side effects,
including hair loss.
Hormone therapy drugs, called LHRH agonists, work by stopping the pituitary
gland from producing a hormone which stimulates the ovaries to manufacture
oestrogen.
Once treatment is ended, after about two years, the ovaries usually begin
functioning normally again.
The new British study, which combined results from trials involving 12,000
women, found LHRH agonists used on their own to treat early breast cancer
were as effective as chemotherapy.
The lead author of the study, Professor Jack Cuzick of Queen Mary, London
University and Cancer Research UK, said: "These results point to an
important additional approach to treating breast cancer.
"They mean pre-menopausal women could consider treatment that is as
effective as chemotherapy without having to endure unpleasant side effects
and risk losing their fertility."
About two-thirds of pre-menopausal patients have hormone-sensitive breast
cancer - around 5,500 of the 42,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer every
year in the UK.
The Government's 'rationing' watchdog, the National Institute for Health and
Clinical Excellence, is due to issue new treatment guidelines in January
2009 which are expected to confirm the effectiveness of the drugs for breast
cancer.
Dr Rakesh Patel, medical leader at AstraZeneca, said: "Clinicians have
recognised their value in treating early breast cancer but it's very
encouraging to have an important study which shows the benefits are
increasing all the time."
Dr Sarah Cant, senior policy and information officer at Breakthrough Breast
Cancer said: "Women tell us that they like to have treatment choice and this
could be another option for some younger women with hormone positive breast
cancer.
"We encourage anyone wanting to find out more to speak to their doctor.
"We also look forward to further research into the effects of these drugs
when combined with newer breast cancer treatments such as aromatase
inhibitors."
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reader
comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is good news, providing that it is available on the NHS.
- Kathleen, Wakefield,England
Shame the 'experts' at NICE and Nanny Hewitt will stop it being supplied on
the NHS, after all the £84 a month needs to go towards the penpushing
administrators' expense account lunch fund, the NHS does have priorities
dontchaknow!
- Paul, Melbourne, Australia (expat)
In response to Maggie G's comment, I just wanted to highlight that Zoladex
costs only £84 a month. This is significantly cheaper that some of the new
chemotherapies whose costs run into tens of thousands of pounds a year. This
doesn't mean to say that all new hormone treatments will be similarly
priced. Zoladex has been on the market for years (although fpr prostate
cancer) and has recooped the expensive development costs. A brand new
hormone treatment won't necessarily be priced as cheaply, so in some
circumstances I can see NICE deeming it too expensive. NICE makes
recommendations based on the cost - benefit ratio - cost of course is
limited by the NHS budget, which is, in turn, controlled by the government.
Final thought - why hasn't Zoladex been tested in this cancer area sooner?
Lives could have potentially been saved in these wasted years. I think
patent protection might have played a part in not rushing development into
new indications.
- David, London
promising results of test of breast cancer therapy using relatively less expensive hormone treatment "Zoladex" 
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