May 2013 Monthly News Posted on May 31, 2013February 25, 2018 by Carly du Toit In the May 2013 edition: Skin cancer drug targets ‘growth’ gene with potential to treat other disease. Your chance to run the International Marathon that’s closest to home: the Auckland Marathon. We celebrate workplace giving month in June. #ThisIsWhyWeFight social movement launch!
Targeted breast cancer treatment prolongs life and reduces side effects! Posted on June 5, 2012February 25, 2018 by Carly du Toit A new treatment is being heralded as a ‘smart-bomb’ for breast cancer following very promising studies in a Phase III clinical trial based in the US. Researchers at the Duke Cancer Institutes administered a new drug ‘T-DM1’ to almost 1000 women with the specific breast cancer type ‘HER-2 positive’, and found it prevented patients’ advanced tumours from progressing while delivering fewer side effects compared to conventional treatments. “As a clinician who takes care of breast cancer patients, it’s important to have a treatment that is both effective and well tolerated,” said director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Program at the Duke Cancer Institute, Kimberley Blackwell. “This is a drug that brings us another step closer to treating cancer without the side effects of chemotherapy.” HER-2 breast cancer is distinguished by high levels of a protein known as ‘human epidermal growth factor’ which promotes cancer cell growth. It accounts for about 20% of invasive breast cancers. Continue reading “Targeted breast cancer treatment prolongs life and reduces side effects!”
