Bone drug may aid in breast cancer treatment
Times Staff and Wire Reports
The Novartis bone-strengthening drug Zometa may enhance the effects of chemotherapy, shrinking breast tumors and helping more women avoid a mastectomy, British researchers said Thursday at a breast cancer symposium in San Antonio.
In a study of 205 women with breast cancer, those who received Zometa with chemotherapy before surgery appeared to have a greater reduction in the size of their primary tumor than those who had chemotherapy alone.
About 65% of the women in the combination group needed a mastectomy, compared with 78% in the chemotherapy-only group, the researchers said.
