Dec 09
28
Herceptin and Tykerb Combo May Prove Effective
For women with advanced breast cancer, there may be some very good news on the horizon in extending their lives longer and perhaps helping to put them into remission, even when all hope seems lost. But does it really improve their quality of life as well? To me that is the real question. So read more about this new super combo that has shown promise, the combination of two existing breast cancer drugs, one called Tykerb, one called Herceptin, both of which we have discussed here before, one, Tykerb, I think when it had just first come out, so I don’t even think that one has been on the market all that long.
Here’s the scoop, thus far, on the findings. In a study involving 300 women with breast cancer in it’s advanced stages, the women who were receiving the Tykerb and Herceptin combo lived nearly five months longer than the women who did not receive this new drug combo. Does that mean that their quality of life was also better, or did it really improve the cancer? It doesn’t really say. Let’s hope so. The real finding here too is that if it can help women with advanced breast cancer this much to extend their life span, then what can it do for women with less advanced forms of the cancer?
They are hoping that it really helps to improve odds for women who are in their earlier stages, so that is the next phase of experiments. The specific job that Herceptin and Tykerb do inside the body of a breast cancer patient, is that they take aim at and destroy proteins called HER-2, which are found in abnormal abundance in the breast cancer patient. By destroying these, they presumably increase the life span of the breast cancer patient who otherwise would not have that benefit.
The unique combination attacks the HER-2 cells from both the inside and outside of the cell, one drug doing the outside attack and the other drug doing the inside attack, a very comprehensive approach to destroying a main component of breast cancer reproduction.
This way, if one of them doesn’t work at cracking the inside, or alternatively, the outside of the cell, then the other one kicks in and at least delivers one of the two pronged fatal blows to the deadly cells. Potential side effects of the drugs include severe diarrhea and potentially fatal blood clots, but if properly managed, these potential side effects I’m sure could be minimized. Plus, I’m sure that if I were faced with two options, I’d probably choose one that could potentially extend my life and maybe even save my life versus the risks it could have against my health. Heck, they sound better than chemo and radiation to me.
