Adding ribociclib to hormone therapy extends lives of women with most common breast cancer

A UCLA-led study has found that using a drug called ribociclib in combination with a common hormone therapy may help premenopausal women with the most common type of breast cancer live longer than if they only receive the hormone therapy.Ribociclib is considered a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor that works by blocking the activity of proteins called cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 enzymes, which promote cell division and cancer growth.The study involved 672 women aged 25 to 59 when the study began who had advanced hormone-receptor positive/HER2- breast cancer. Seventy percent of the women who took the combination therapy were alive after 42 months, compared to 46% for women who treated with only the hormone therapy.The  study is featured in a press briefing today at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting and will be published in the New England Journal of Medicine on June 4.Dr. Sara Hurvitz, director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Program at theUCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the study is the first to show a significant benefit in overall survival for women in this age group with metastatic hormone-receptor positive breast cancer.“This trial was unique because it looks at younger women who haven’t gone through menopause,” said Hurvitz, the study’s lead author, who is also an associate professor of hematology/oncology at theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “This is an important group to study since advanced breast ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news