New breast cancer drug could help thousands, researchers say
- It’s not a cure, but this latest gain for targeted therapy could open new treatment possibilities to thousands of patients with advanced breast cancer
- The drug is Enhertu, an antibody-chemotherapy combination given by IV, which belongs to a relatively new class of drugs called antibody-drug conjugates
For the first time, a drug targeting a protein that drives breast cancer growth has been shown to work against tumours with very low levels of the protein.
It’s not a cure. But this latest gain for targeted cancer therapy could open new treatment possibilities to thousands of patients with advanced breast cancer.
Until now, breast cancers have been categorised as either HER2-positive – the cancer cells have more of the protein than normal – or HER2-negative. Doctors reporting the advance Sunday said it will make HER2-low a new category for guiding breast cancer treatment.
About half of patients with late-stage breast cancer formerly categorised as HER2-negative may actually be HER2-low and eligible for the drug.
The drug is Enhertu, an antibody-chemotherapy combo given by IV. It finds and blocks the HER2 protein on cancer cells, while also unloading a powerful cancer-killing chemical inside those cells. It belongs to a relatively new class of drugs called antibody-drug conjugates.
The drug was already approved for HER2-positive breast cancer, and in April the Food and Drug Administration granted it breakthrough status for this new group of patients.