Breast cancer 3-drug combo gives women 'precious extra time with loved ones'

A new "triple therapy" could provide a lifeline for women with incurable by helping them survive the disease for longer. A major trial found the combination was more effective than the two-drug mix currently in use - and more than doubled the time before patients' worsened.

Women taking all three medications were 33% less likely to die during the three-year study period and more likely to see their tumours shrink significantly. The triple therapy also delayed the need for chemotherapy by almost two years. The new drug, inavolisib, works by blocking the activity of a protein called PIK3CA and destroying mutated versions of the protein.

It was used alongside palbociclib, which blocks another abnormal protein, and a hormone therapy drug, fulvestrant.

Study leader Professor Nick Turner, an expert in molecular oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in , said: "These results give us confidence that this treatment could become the new go-to option for patients who have HR+, HER2- breast cancer with a PIK3CA mutation, as it has shown significant improvements in both survival and quality of life."

Around 1,000 women with incurable breast cancer would be expected to meet the criteria for the triple therapy in the UK. The trial included 325 such patients, who were randomly assigned to one of the two drug combinations.

The results also showed substantial shrinking of tumours in around 62.7% of patients in the triple therapy group compared to 28% in the control group.

Professor Kristian Helin, ICR chief executive, said the triple therapy could help tackle resistance to treatments.

He added: "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.

"One of the challenges with combination therapies is ensuring the right drug dosages and understanding their individual effects."

The findings were presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology's annual conference in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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.

"We hope that more research like this will help to give people kinder cancer treatment options, and more time with their loved ones."

Dr Simon Vincent, director of research, support and influencing at Breast Cancer Now, said the drug combination could give patients "precious extra time".

He added: "This is a significant breakthrough and we're proud that it builds on a series of discoveries that our funded scientists have been making at the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, since it opened 25 years ago.

"We now hope to see this new combination therapy can be licensed by the MHRA and assessed by NICE and the Scottish Medicine Council (SMC) as soon as possible so that it can reach the patients who could benefit from it."