Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Breast Cancer Therapies in Development |
| Authors: |
Valeriola, Dominique, Awada, Ahmad, Roy, Josée-Anne, Leo, Angelo, Biganzoli, Laura, Piccart, Martine |
| Source: |
Drugs; September 1997, Vol. 54 Issue: 3 p385-413, 29p |
| Abstract: |
Although the management of breast cancer has improved over the past few decades, it remains an important challenge for the clinician. Cytotoxic chemotherapy and hormonotherapy, when given in the adjuvant setting, have a definitive though modest impact on the outcome of early-stage breast cancer. In metastatic disease, these therapies help to provide substantial palliation of symptoms but have a limited impact on survival. The discovery of vinorelbine and the taxanes, paclitaxel and docetaxel, certainly represented the most encouraging clinical development of the 1980s in breast cancer therapy. Several other new cytotoxic agents have been recognised for their potential in the treatment of this disorder. Many of them are only in a very early phase of their clinical development and it remains to be proven that they will have a major role in daily practice in the near future. In terms of hormonal treatment, new aromatase inhibitors and new anti-estrogens have been developed and, to date, show equivalent efficacy compared with the more classical hormonal agents. Some of them may be substantially better tolerated. Our increasing understanding of the process of metastasis, of the mechanisms of resistance of cancer cells and of cell transformation, proliferation and differentiation is now translating into several promising new treatment strategies for the management of breast cancer patients. Thus, the success of these promising new therapeutic agents and strategies, which have been identified over the past few years and are in various stages of clinical development, will certainly depend in part on their proper evaluation in well designed clinical trials. |
| Database: |
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