Study finds bone drug helps fight breast cancer

December 12, 2008|Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - New research adds fresh hope that a drug that strengthens bones might also fight breast cancer.

Women who were given the drug, Zometa, as part of their initial treatment had greater tumor shrinkage and were less likely to need radical surgery, according to a preliminary study reported yesterday at a cancer conference in Texas.

In June, doctors were stunned when a big study found that Zometa - given to prevent bone loss caused by certain cancer treatments - also greatly cut the risk that cancer would recur in women who developed the disease before menopause.

Cancer specialists are eagerly awaiting the final results of a second, ongoing study testing Zometa in 3,360 women who had breast cancer after menopause - a much more common situation.

Its leaders gave a mini-report yesterday on 205 participants who had chemotherapy to try to shrink their tumors before surgery.

Those given infusions of Zometa along with chemotherapy had a third more tumor shrinkage and as a result, were less likely to need their whole breast removed versus just the lump, said study leader Dr. Robert Coleman of the University of Sheffield in England.

Eleven percent of Zometa takers had a complete response to treatment - no evidence of cancer in their breasts or lymph nodes - versus 6 percent of women given chemo alone.

Partial studies like this are not enough to change practice, but these results are surprising and deserve further testing, said Dr. Eric Winer of the Dana-Farber Cancer Center. Such significant benefits from the bone drug before surgery "is not something I would have expected," he said.