Study shows R&D drug efforts for breast cancer

Breast cancer will kill an estimated 40,410 American women this year, and an estimated 211,240 women will be diagnosed with the disease.

But America's research-based pharmaceutical companies are developing new medicines to fight breast cancer.

One medicine, now in clinical trials for metastatic breast cancer, is designed to bind to and inhibit a protein that forms new blood vessels and maintains current blood vessels that feed tumours.

"It is heartening to know that there are so many medicines being developed to treat women-our grandmothers, mothers, wives, sisters and daughters,"​ said Billy Tauzin, President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The PhRMA survey shows that along with new medicines for breast cancer, 72 are in development for arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders; 58 for obstetric/gynaecologic conditions, which affect more than 4.5 million women ages 15 to 50 each year;

In addition, 62 medicines are currently being developed for diabetes, which affects 9 per cent of women over the age of 20; and 47 for autoimmune diseases, which afflict 23.5 million Americans, most of them women.

The report revealed that among the potential new medicines in development for women is a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis that modulates the autoimmune cell function and helps stem the cascade of inflammation that leads to joint damage.

In a addition a new medicine is currently being approved for colorectal cancer is being studied in metastatic breast cancer.

The medicine is designed to bind to and inhibit vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein that plays a critical role in the formation of new blood vessels that feed the tumour.

The report also spoke of a new medicine in development for diabetes that increases hormone levels that stimulate insulin production and reduce glucose secretion, improving the imbalance between insulin and glucose that causes type 2 diabetes.

According to the American Cancer Society, better treatments and earlier detection are helping decrease the breast cancer death rate, which has declined steadily at 2.3 per cent per year since 1990.

"The fact that that there are 62 new medicines in development for breast cancer gives so much hope,"​ added Tauzin.

"Anyone with a loved one who is fighting breast cancer or who has beaten it knows the importance of these medicines and this research."​

More detailed results of the study can be found at this link​