New Drugs Developed Are Twice As Effective For Patients With Lungs, Breast And Prostate Tumours

Drugs are sccoring big wins against common cancers, setting new standards for how to treat many breast, lungs and prostate cancers. There is even 'uni drug' that may fight many forms of disease. The drugs are beneficial in some cases for more than a year, much longer than the few months many new drugs provide. Janssen Biotech Zytiga improved survival and delayed cancer growth for 18 months when added to a standard care in a study of 1,200 men with advanced prostate cancer. Roche's Alecensa stopped growth of cancer for 15 months longer than Pfizer's Xalkori did in a study of 303 people with advanced lung cancer and mutation in a gene called ALK. For the first time a drug called PARP inhibitor showed promise in a major study of women with inherited BRCA gene mutations that raise their risk of developing breast cancer. PARP keep cancer cells from fixing problems in their DNA, and some are approved now for some ovarian cancers. The study tested Astra Zeneca's Lynparza in 302 women with cancers that had spread beyond the breasr and were not of the type that respond to the drug Herceptin.