March 18 th , 2020 – The approval of an innovative treatment for breast cancer in the U.S. has been causing a great repercussion among Brazilian oncologists and patients bearing breast cancer diagnosis.

Several communication vehicles have been emphasizing that such drug as “a hope for breast cancer patients”.

Such drug is trastuzumabe-deruxtecan, also known as DS8201. The researches of the corresponding DESTINY1-Breast01 study published their encouraging results of the new drug in December 2019, during the largest worldwide event addressing breast cancer, the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS 2019), in Texas, United States.

“We are really facing a revolutionary treatment. The results presented in the phase 2 of the study demonstrated formidable benefits in patients with positive HER-2 metastatic breast cancer, who had already performed, on average, six types of treatments”, comments physician Lilian Arruda, clinical oncologist and medical coordinator at the Clinical Research Center of IBCC Oncologia.

What is a HER-2 positive breast cancer?

Some types of breast cancer have an increased number of HER-2 receptors on the cell surface (the doctor can check this profile using a battery of tests). Such condition is known as overexpression of HER-2 and contributes to the uncontrolled growth of cells, which is the main characteristic of cancer. That explains why it is a more aggressive type of tumor.

Who will have access?

Approved in the USA on January 6 th , 2020, in Brazil, access to the drug is made available through research protocols. Several research centers in Brazil are recruiting patients for studies using the new drug.

Dr. Lilian Arruda points out that one of the many advantages of participating in clinical research, in addition to the possibility of cure, is the opportunity to take advantage of a medication or procedure that has not yet been made available by the Unified Health System (SUS) or that is not yet being commercialized.

The Clinical Research Center of IBCC Oncologia is one of the health units currently recruiting patients for the clinical research with this new drug.

Further information:  https://ibcc.org.br/pesquisa-clinica/

Collaboration by Dr. Lilian Arruda – clinical oncologist and medical coordinator of the Clinical Research Center of IBCC Oncologia.