Clinical Trial of Cheaper Breast Cancer Drug is Successful

By Soham Samaddar - 06 Jun '16 09:48AM

Breast cancer is a menace that affects millions of women all across the world and it is not really surprise that pharmaceutical companies in different parts of the world are trying to discover a cheaper alternative to the standard breast cancer drug Herceptin, which can often prove to be beyond the means of most individuals. In a fresh development that would certainly be a welcome news for millions, the Mylan Pharmaceuticals sponsored study on a cheaper alternative to breast cancer drugs was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology and according to reports, it proved to be a success. Although it must be pointed out that it is still at the preliminary stages.

The leader of the study Dr. Hope Rugo said, "[Herceptin]has markedly improved survival of women with HER2-positive breast cancer, but many women around the world can't benefit from [the drug] due to its high cost." He went on to add, "We hope that the introduction of biosimilars will expand patient access to this effective drug, which has already benefited the lives of thousands of people across the globe,"

The website USNews reported on the subject and stated the details of the study in an article, "The new drug targeting these tumors is what's known as a biosimilar drug -- in this case, a drug similar to Herceptin. Biosimilars are designed to mimic the brand-name medicine, and are expected to produce roughly the same results in patients, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration explained.

Researchers conducted a randomized phase III clinical trial of the biosimilar trastuzumab antibody drug MYL-1401O. Their trial included 500 patients. The trial was conducted at 95 sites in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The women received chemotherapy and either Herceptin or MYL-1401O for at least eight cycles, followed by Herceptin alone until their disease progressed.Six months later, response rates were similar in both groups, 70 percent with MYL-1401O and 64 percent with Herceptin, the study found."