Study: Taxotere Better Than Taxol for Advanced Breast Cancer Patients

Advanced breast cancer patients taking Taxotere responded better and lived longer than those taking Taxol but experienced more severe side effects, according to results from the first head-to-head trial of the two anti-cancer drugs.

Results of the study, involving 449 women with advanced incurable breast cancer who had received previous chemotherapy, were presented at the European Cancer Conference in Copenhagen.

Dr. Peter Ravdin of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio told a news briefing that the women treated with Taxotere (docetaxel) survived for a median 15.4 months compared with a median 12.7 months for the women who received Taxol (paclitaxel).

Docetaxel patients had an overall response rate of nearly a third compared to a quarter for the paclitaxel patients. The median time before the breast cancer progressed was 5.7 months for the docetaxel patients and 3.6 months for the paclitaxel patients.

However, the women who received docetaxel experienced more severe side effects with higher incidences of neutropenia (reduction in infection-fighting white blood cells), asthenia (loss of strength), infection, oedema (abnormal accumulation of fluid), mouth ulcers and neuromotor and neurosensory problems, the researchers reported.

"This has been an important study with very useful results," said Ravdin. "Oncologists have been waiting for the outcome. It is the first time that these two drugs, which are related but which do act in somewhat different ways, have been tested directly against each other. Physicians and their patients now have more definitive information about the relative effectiveness and safety.

"What is most exciting about the improvement in survival caused by docetaxel is the possible implications for adjuvant therap," said Ravdin. "Usually, when a treatment shows superior survival in patients with metastatic disease, this treatment also improves survival in adjuvant therapy of early breast cancer. We are all waiting with great interest for the results of recently completed and ongoing trials, which are evaluating what additional effectiveness docetaxel may bring to adjuvant therapy. "

Other Sources: European Cancer Conference