Breast Cancer Chemo Threatens Heart Health

Natural drug discovery on the decline

(NEWSER) - Halaven, the new breast cancer drug the FDA approved in November, has an origin that’s rare in today’s pharmaceutical industry: It’s natural. Halaven is derived from halichondrin B, a chemical found in a species of black sponge that lives off the coast of Japan, the Wall Street Journal reports. Once that wouldn’t have been so remarkable, but lately large pharmaceutical companies have focused almost entirely on synthetic, targeted drugs. More»

But screening can't determine danger; many treated unnecessarily

(NEWSER) - One-third of breast cancers that show up on mammograms may be essentially harmless, meaning that treating every tumor causes unnecessary trauma, a five-nation study suggests. A mammogram doesn't reveal whether a cancer is lethal or harmless, so all get treated when some could be merely monitored, the BBC reports. The finding means "that screening for cancer, in this case breast cancer, is a much closer call than has been previously advertised," writes a Dartmouth researcher. More»

Targeted therapy may prevent lethal spread, researchers say

(NEWSER) - Researchers have singled out a gene that spreads breast cancer and makes it chemo-resistant, raising the prospect of drug therapy that localizes the disease and improves survival rates, the Baltimore Sun reports. Scientists believe that metadherin, or MTDH—found in 40% of the breast cancer patients studied—makes tumor cells sticky so they latch onto blood vessels in distant organs. More»

(NEWSER) - Cancer will surpass heart disease as the world’s preeminent killer by 2010, Reuters reports. A WHO study concluded that cancer cases will double between 2000 and 2020, and almost triple by 2030, largely because of increased tobacco use in developing countries. In men, who are more likely to contract the disease, lung cancer is most prevalent; in women, breast cancer is the most common form. More»

Widely prescribed Avastin doesn't prolong life, studies say

(NEWSER) - Avastin is one of the most widely prescribed cancer drugs in the world, but it might not work, the New York Times reports. The drug, made by Genentech, brings in about $2.3 billion a year in the US alone, but recent trials have shown that though the drug shrinks tumors in sufferers of colon, breast, and lung cancer, it offers little extension of life. More»