A study by Tata Memorial Hospital has provided patients of triple negative breast cancer, who had difficulty affording treatment to prevent a relapse, with a combination anti-diabetic and chemotherapy drugs costing less than Rs 120 a month.
Survival rates have improved by a significant 40% in breast cancer patients, according to a leading English daily. At the Tata Hospital 33% of breast cancers are triple negative. Younger women are more affected by this type of cancer, which can be challenging to treat.
In the study, 64 patients treated at a Chiplun-based outreach hospital, patients were given two pills of anti-cancer and one anti-diabetic drug, daily for one year and a half. According to the findings, the five-year survival rate of 37 women who took the drug showed that the five-year survival rate rose to 90% as compared to 50% in those who did not take the maintenance drugs.
Professor and head of department of medical oncology at Tata Hospital, Dr Shripad Banavali told the leading English daily, it is an important case for metronomic therapy - a new model of drug administration with economical, low-dose drugs over a long period of time.
He explained, the "metronomic model" attacked the cancer in three ways.
- weakened the tumour by reducing the blood supply
- modulated the body's microenvironment and immunity
A drug which is mainly given to diabetics, was used a biological response modifier.gived to diabetics, was used a biological response modifier.
Banavali also revealed metronomic model has been in use for use "a palliative option", when surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy failed. For India, he believes "where drug discovery is a huge challenge. It allows us to reposition the drugs which are already in use".
A few Mumbai hospitals have already started using the metronomic model for maintenance of triple negative breast cancer patients.
