Breakthrough breast cancer treatment could help 1,000 women a year

A new triple-drug treatment for aggressive advanced breast cancer can cut deaths by a third, a major trial has found.
The international research used liquid biopsies – described as the 'golden key' to unlocking precision medicines – that identified suitable patients.
All were suffering from one of the most common forms of breast cancer, which accounts for seven in 10 cases, and had a common mutation which makes it more deadly and aggressive.
The three-drug therapy comprises two targeted drugs – palbociclib, a type of cancer growth blocker, and a new drug called inavolisib, which blocks the activity of the PI3K protein – as well as the hormone therapy fulvestrant.
Until now, treatment options for such patients have been limited.
The trial involving the Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust enrolled 325 patients from 28 countries, including the UK. In all cases, cancer had spread or returned after hormone therapy and for those who had not yet received systemic treatment for metastatic disease.
Of the total, 161 were given the three-drug combination. The placebo group, which included 164 patients, was given a dummy pill plus palbociclib and fulvestrant.
The study found the median overall survival in the inavolisib group was 34 months, compared with 27 months in the placebo group.
The therapy was far more likely to result in significant shrinkage of tumours. In total, 62.7 per cent of patients in the inavolisib group saw their tumours shrink by more than 30 per cent, compared with 28 per cent in the placebo group. The randomised, double blind trial also showed that the new combination delayed the progression of the disease by 17.2 months, on average, compared with 7.3 months in the control group.
Women taking inavolisib were able to delay subsequent chemotherapy treatment by almost two years longer than the patients in the control group.
Around 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK every year, and 11,500 will die from the disease.
The study involved women with one of the most common types of disease, who had a mutation which is more aggressive and deadly.
Experts said around 1,000 women a year could be helped by the drug combination.
The study, funded by pharmaceutical company Roche, which manufactures inavolisib, was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Lead author Nick Turner, professor of molecular oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research and consultant medical oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said the therapy 'not only helped patients live longer, but it more than doubled the time before their cancer progressed or worsened.
'It also gave them more time before needing subsequent chemotherapy, which we know is something that patients really fear and want to delay for as long as possible,' he said.
The oncologist said he hoped the triple therapy would become the standard of care for women who can benefit.
Previous trial results led the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant 'breakthrough therapy' designation for inavolisib in May 2024 with costs of around $23,000 (£17,000) monthly.
It has yet to be licensed in the UK.
Professor Kristian Helin, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: 'This research demonstrates how this triple combination approach, effectively shuts down cancer's escape routes, giving people with metastatic breast cancer the opportunity to live well for longer.'
Dr Nisharnthi Duggan, research information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: 'These results are really positive news for people living with a type of hard-to-treat breast cancer. The trial showed that adding inavolisib to targeted treatment plans improved survival. On top of this, it also delayed the progression of people's cancer and the need for chemotherapy, which could improve quality of life.
'We hope that more research like this will help to give people kinder cancer treatment options, and more time with their loved ones.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Telegraph

28 minutes ago

• Telegraph

Amazon data centres to consume ‘as much electricity to power Burnley'

A complex of huge data centres being built by Amazon in Britain will consume as much electricity needed to power a town the size of Burnley, campaigners have claimed. The proposed data centres, near Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire, are projected to consume around 114.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year. This equivalent to the power consumed by more than 42,500 UK households, according to researchers at Global Action Plan, which is campaigning against the development. It exceeds the number of homes in Burnley, which stood at 41,955 after the most recent Census in 2021. Planning documents show the two data centres in the development will include 42 back-up diesel generators, each around 25 metres tall, that need to be fired up fortnightly to check they are working. It is estimated this will produce the same emissions as 1,079 homes heated by gas. The plans were lodged with Central Bedfordshire Council by Colliers Properties, a known partner of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the retail giant's cloud computing division. The documents name Amazon Data Services UK as the site's eventual operator. Known as Linmere Island, the project would sit on an empty 22-acre greenfield site. While the plans also include 140 solar panels, it is not clear how much power they will supply to the data centres.

Times

32 minutes ago

• Times

Trump tariffs leave UK firms scrambling to renegotiate contracts

British companies are looking to renegotiate supplier contracts as they scramble to find savings that can protect them from the impact of escalating US tariffs, according to new data. A survey of firms with more than 5,000 employees found that 90 per cent fear that President Trump's import duties would hurt their revenues and profits, with businesses looking at a series of ways to manage rising costs. More than half (55 per cent) said their main tool to deal with tariff threats was to review existing contracts to find savings or renegotiate better terms with break clauses that could account for the imposition of new levies, according to Acertis, which provides contract management software. Bernadette Bulacan at Icertis said companies' first resort 'to protect margins is to take a critical look at customer and supplier relationships. For many companies, the path to surviving tariff disruption starts not with policy lobbying but with a forensic look at what's already been committed to on paper.' She said firms were taking measures to include rules of termination and force majeure clauses in contracts to deal with costs caused by tariffs, while also seeking out new suppliers in countries that were not affected by sweeping US levies. The Trump administration applied a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs he had announced on most of the world economy on April 8, which is due to expire in early July. The president has signed a partial tariff deal with the UK, but most British goods will still be subject to a 10 per cent tariff when selling to US markets, raising the average US tariff rate from about 1 per cent last year to more than 6 per cent. The European Union is also in talks with the White House about avoiding a potential 55 per cent tariff on all its goods exports. • Britain's exporters at a loss over US tariff turmoil The debate over contractual terms between suppliers and customers is part of a swathe of legal complexities about who should shoulder the cost of import taxes. In April, Howmet Aerospace, an American supplier of components to the sector, declared a force majeure event that would allow it to stop shipments if it remained subject to US tariffs. Although the full gamut of threatened tariffs has not yet been applied on most countries, recent data has shown a spike in invoice rejections as businesses attempt to delay supplier payments until they have more certainty about US trade policy. Icertis's survey, which included 1,000 companies across Britain, the United States and India, found that just under half of them were 're-evaluating' where to find suppliers to avoid tariffs, restructuring their supply chains and manufacturing plants, and also considering 'sunsetting relationships that no longer serve under new cost and compliance pressures'. About 40 per cent of UK firms said they would absorb higher costs into their margins and just over a third said they were planning to raise prices charged to consumers to deal with tariffs. Bulacan said companies should also consider price adjustment clauses that account for tariff changes. 'In the same way that force majeure clauses changed fundamentally during the pandemic, these clauses could be invoked against new tariffs to prevent potential losses,' she said.

Times

32 minutes ago

• Times

High earners face surge in tax investigations

High earners face a surge in tax investigations after HM Revenue & Customs doubled revenues from inquiries into the wealthiest Britons last year. A freedom of information request has revealed that HMRC's wealthy and mid-sized business compliance directorate, which examines the tax affairs of those earning more than £200,000 a year or with assets above £2 million, yielded more than £1.5 billion in 2024, double the amount raised the previous year. The success of the unit has led to a decision to hire an extra 400 specialist compliance officers, who will be added over the next four years. The government hopes the move will bring in at least another £500 million in tax revenues by 2030. Accountants have said the number of investigations into wealthy individuals will inevitably increase.