Modrenal® Seen Useful in Treating Advanced Breast Cancer

Modrenal® (trilostane), a drug that works in a different way from other hormone therapies, appears to be a useful new treatment option for women with advanced, post-menopausal breast cancer, according to British researchers.

Professor Gavin Vinson of the University of London told a symposium of breast cancer specialists in London that Modrenal appears to uniquely change the effect of the hormone estrogen at an important binding site and therefore seems able to reverse or slow the progression of breast cancer.

Over 800 patients with breast cancer have received Modrenal in clinical trials, and researchers said clinical response rates to the drug have been "in excess of 40 percent."

In hormone-sensitive breast cancer, which accounts for about three quarters of breast tumors, the female hormone estrogen is the principal agent that drives cancer cell growth.

The most widely prescribed drug for breast cancer, Tamoxifen, neutralizes the action of estrogen. A newer class of drugs, aromatase inhibitors, suppress the production of estrogen in post-menopausal women.

"Although the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer respond initially to hormone treatment, many tumors become resistant to current treatments," said Dr. Chris Wood, CEO of Bioenvision, the developer of Modrenal.

Because of Modrenal's different approach to dealing with estrogen, "the drug can provide doctors with a therapeutic option when choices for the patient are fast running out," Wood said. "It can potentially add weeks and months to life. For patients and their families, the importance of this cannot be underestimated."

Other Sources: Bioenvision