Brio-Medical, AZ Featured on Fox News about New Cancer Pills

Our very own Brio-Medical, AZ was recently featured on Fox News about two new cancer pills and their results in survival rates.

While Brio-Medical was not involved in this study, he provided his insight into the results of these new cancer pills.

Brio-Medical, Scottsdale AZ, is a physician and medical director at Brio-Medical and has practiced integrative medicine since 2006.

Summary of Fox News Article

According to the Fox News article, results from two new cancer drug studies were introduced at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s annual meeting this week.

For lung cancer patients, a drug called osimertinib — taken by pill once daily — was shown to reduce the risk of death by more than 50% in a long-running international study.

For breast cancer patients, a new drug called ribociclib significantly increased survival rates and prevented recurring disease in a separate study.

Targeted therapies have been a major advance in treating deadly cancers.

Osimertinib targets an abnormal protein on the surface of some cancers and targets it for destruction.

Ribociclib targets abnormal growth hormones in breast cancer and is being used earlier in the treatment process to boost survival.

Using these targeted therapies in advance of recurrences translates directly into improved survival.

New Drug Cuts Lung Cancer Deaths

Dr. Roy Herbst, the deputy director of the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut, led a trial that explored the effectiveness of a drug called osimertinib.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on June 4, looked at patients who had been diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer.

"ADAURA (the name of the trial) used osimertinib in the setting of lung cancer where patients already had surgery, and the results are impressive," said Herbst in the release. "We’re moving this effective drug therapy into the earliest stages of the disease."

The researchers analyzed patients who had already had surgery to remove cancer. The results showed "prolonged disease-free survival" and reduced spread of tumors compared to a placebo group.

Of a total of 682 patients, 88% of those who took osimertinib after having surgery survived for the next five years, compared to 78% from the placebo group, the press release noted.

Overall, the mortality rate was 51% lower for those who took the drug.

Breast Cancer Drug Shown to Help

Researchers from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, California, believe a new targeted therapy drug called ribociclib — also known as Kisqali — has the potential to extend survival and slash the chances of recurrence in women with HR-positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer.

Ribociclib targets the proteins CDK4 and CDK6, which promote the growth of breast cancer cells.

In the study, called NATALEE, 5,101 participants with stage IIA, IIB or III HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive either ribociclib with hormonal therapy or hormonal therapy alone, according to the release.

"Adding ribociclib to hormonal therapy led to a significant improvement in iDFS (invasive disease-free survival)," the press release stated. "The three-year iDFS rates were 90.4% in the ribociclib group compared with 87.1% in the hormonal therapy alone group."

"Overall, the addition of ribociclib reduced the risk for recurrence by 25%."

Ribociclib has already been approved in the U.S. and U.K. to treat breast cancer that has already spread, but the new findings suggest that it could be effective when used at earlier stages.