Thousands of women can overcome one of the deadliest forms of breast cancer thanks to a new treatment, after scientists have found that a particular drug combined with immune systems should be taken by patients in addition to chemotherapy.
The British newspaper "The Sun" reported that people with (triple negative) tumors are more likely to recover from the disease before surgery, which increases the chance that the disease will never return.
Treatment may be available on the National Health Authority’s schedule for the next two or three years, according to the newspaper.
"This approach can save thousands of lives," said researcher Peter Schmid of Queen Mary University in London.
In presenting data in Barcelona to the European Society of Oncology, he said that 1,200 women participated in the study, two-thirds of the participants were given immunotherapy drugs with chemotherapy, while the rest were only chemotherapy.
For the first group, the chance of cancer disappearing, known as the full pathological response, before surgery was 65 percent.
As for the group, which received chemotherapy only, the chance of cancer disappearing reached 51 percent, a difference of 27 percent.
Breast cancer affects approximately 55,000 British women a year, the triple negative form represents one in every 6 cases, and a quarter of patients are killed within 5 years, which is more common in people under the age of 40.
Professor Charles Swanton of Cancer Research described the new treatment as a "promising option".
