New Trial to Test Taxotere

The British Cancer Research Campaign has launched a major clinical trial to find out whether a new chemotherapy regime can improve survival for women with breast cancer.

Called the TACT trial, the study will eventually enroll more than 3,000 women to test the effectiveness of the breast cancer drug Taxotere when used in combination with other chemotherapy agents. Taxotere by itself has already been used with considerable success to extend the lives of women with advanced breast cancer.

"We know that Taxotere can keep very ill women alive and well for a long time, but we're now testing whether for women whose disease is less advanced it can actually work as a cure," said Dr. Paul Ellis of Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital in London, who is one of the trial's coordinators.

As well as testing whether the new drug combination can bring improved survival, researchers will also be looking for ways of predicting who will respond best to the new treatment. That way, only women who would be likely to benefit would be given Taxotere, while other patients could be given alternative drugs.

The researchers will soon begin testing tumor samples taken during surgery but before chemotherapy began, looking for molecular features of the tumors that might indicate the treatment's likely success.

"It's important that we fund large-scale studies like the TACT trial so that hospitals can make their decisions on what drugs to use based on hard clinical evidence, rather than on cost or convenience," noted Professor Gordon McVie, the Campaign's Director General. "We need not only to research new drugs and treatments, but also to make sure that the best possible drugs are available to patients as quickly as possible."

SOURCE:

The Cancer Research Campaign (www.crc.org.uk)

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