New drug discovered to treat dangerous form of breast cancer

British scientists have raised hope for many patients by finding a drug that can stop one of the fastest growing and most difficult to treat types of breast cancer.

A new drug developed by British scientists could control one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat types of breast cancer. Photo: Shutterstock

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is difficult to treat because the cancerous tumors have the ability to grow very quickly. Scientists have discovered a drug that can stop cancer cells from multiplying uncontrollably, according to the Daily Mail.

The new drug is called Palbociclib, also known as a CDK4/6 inhibitor. The team at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, believes that Palbociclib has the potential to successfully treat women with the difficult-to-treat TNBC type of breast cancer.

Tests on mice have shown promising results. Palbociclib can control and destroy tumors. “Triple-negative breast cancer has many treatments, but none of them are really effective,” said Professor Nicholas Turner, one of the scientists involved in the study.

The team now plans to test to identify women with TNBC to recommend for clinical trials, Professor Turner added.

Trials of palbociclib in treating breast cancer showed that patients using the drug lived an average of 25 months, compared to 12.5 months for those who only received chemotherapy. However, palbociclib is quite expensive, costing nearly $110,000 (about 2.5 billion VND) and has not yet been approved by the UK health authority, according to the Daily Mail.

According to TNO