It is breast cancer awareness month and we need to do everything as a community to combat this deadly disease. This news just came to my attention about the use of zoldrenic acid, a drug for treating osteoporosis, may increase survival in postmenopausal stage IV cancer women.The increase in survival rate is low but significant to placebo control group but never-the-less significant.
Here is an excerpt of the summarized findings of today's article at the National Cancer Institute:
"A planned subset analysis of a phase III trial showed that adding zoledronic acid, a bisphosphonate, to standard adjuvant therapy for stage II or III breast cancer may improve outcomes in postmenopausal women. Overall, among the entire trial population of 3,360 women, the addition of zoledronic acid did not improve outcomes.
However, among a subset of women who had undergone menopause 5 or more years before study entry, the 5-year overall survival rate was 85 percent for those who received zoledronic acid, compared with 79 percent for those treated with standard adjuvant therapy alone.
These findings from the AZURE trial were published online September 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented the same day at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress. In the full study population, there were 17 confirmed and 9 suspected cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw in the zoledronic acid group and none in the control group.
The benefit in overall survival among postmenopausal women “is a small but significant increase,” said principal investigator Dr. Robert Coleman in a news release. The finding is not conclusive on its own but “in the context of other studies and additional data anticipated later in the year,” he believes it may change practice".
More National Cancer Institute News:
http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/100411/page3?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ncicancerbulletin+%28NCI+Cancer+Bulletin%29#e
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