[Source: UA News] – Monthly injections of a new drug in breast cancer patients whose disease has spread to the bone can delay and reduce pain and prevent complications with less toxicity than other treatments available, according to results of a worldwide study reported by Dr. Alison T. Stopeck, director of the Arizona Cancer Center’s clinical breast cancer program and lead author of a paper appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
As many as 75 percent of patients with metastatic breast cancer develop cancer in their bones, resulting in bone destruction and skeletal complications – also called skeletal-related events, or SRE – including fractures, spinal cord compression or the need to receive radiation or surgery to the bone. Administering intravenous bisphosphonates has been the standard of care for treating bone metastases and preventing these disabling SREs.
For more information: Novel Cancer Drug Has Potential, UA Study Reports