Remedy for Advanced Breast Cancer Made from Sea Sponge
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Another chemotherapy drug which helps treat breast cancer in its advanced stages was made recently from sea sponge. According to reports, this drug helped extend the lives of women who are suffering from metastatic breast cancer up to two and a half months. The drug, known as erubulin, was presented during the recent meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology which was held in Chicago.
The study’s author, Dr. Christopher Twelves, said that there is a big need for these therapies as they significantly improve the survival rate of breast cancer patients. This particular drug (Erubulin) happens to target the mechanisms which make cells divide. Previous agents used to treat breast cancer did not do this.
More than 750 women suffering from advanced breast cancer were randomly chosen for this clinical study. This included patients who have been previously treated using other therapies to treat their cancer. According to the study’s findings, there was a 23% improvement in survival when erubulin was taken. Compared to the average survival of 10.7 months using conventional treatments, patients who were given erubulin lived for another 13 months.
While erubulin can lengthen the survival period of women with metastatic breast cancer, there is no proof yet that it can actually cure the cancer. An expert in the meeting also cautioned that not all women who underwent the said clinical trial had access to other drugs released in the past years. Because the controlled group was also chosen randomly, the findings might not be that accurate.