FDA Approves Life-Extending Drug for Late-Stage Breast Cancer

Kadcyla interferes with cancer cell growth

A new drug that can extend the life of women with one of the most hard-to-cure, late stage types of breast cancer was approved by the FDA on Friday. Kadcyla is offering hope to women diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer, whose tumors have spread despite treatment. It combines an older drug, Herceptin (which hones in on the tumor cells that absorb the package) with a highly toxic type of chemotherapy called DM1 (which then destroys them). “Kadcyla delivers the drug to the cancer site to shrink the tumor, slow disease progression and prolong survival," Dr. Richard Pazdur. Results of a clinical study of 991 patients showed that those treated with Kadcyla had a median progression-free survival of 9.6 months. However, it's not without its pitfalls; some common side effects include low levels of platelets in the blood and increased levels of liver enzymes. A nearly 10-month course of therapy costs $94,000. Still, breast cancer is the biggest cancer killer of women, after lung cancer, diagnosed in about 235,000 U.S. men and women every year and killing 40,000. (NBC News)

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