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Trial Drug Offers Hope for Ovarian Cancer Patients
Early test on small number of women yields improved survival rate
By Rob Quinn
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Posted Apr 7, 09 6:01 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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A new drug being developed in Britain could someday prolong the lives of thousands of women suffering ovarian cancer, the Guardian reports. Eight of the 18 women involved in the trial, all of whom had been given less than a year to live, saw their tumors stabilize or shrink under the treatment, an unusually high proportion for an experimental cancer drug.
"The hope with this group of patients was to slow down the progress of their ovarian cancer, improve the quality of their life and possibly make them live longer," said the chief investigator. "We have been quite successful in doing that. If this becomes a treatment, this is a whole new approach to treating ovarian cancer." The drug may be available within 5 years if further trials prove successful.