GlaxoSmithKline has announced that clinical trials on Tykerb, a drug that fights breast cancer, also helps fight the cancer after it has spread to the brain.
The randomized study, an extention of an earlier Phase II study involving 49 patients, showed that 20 percent of those receving the combo of Tykerb and Xeloda had a minimum of 50 percent volume reduction in measurable brain metastases.
“These results suggest that Tykerb has significant potential as an essential component of the treatment regimen for women with advanced breast cancer,” 
said Paolo Paoletti, M.D., Senior Vice President of the Oncology Medicine Development Center at GSK. “Worldwide, more than one million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and it is a leading cause of cancer related deaths. The data presented at ASCO clearly demonstrates GSK’s continued commitment to changing the treatment paradigm for these women, in hopes of one day making cancer a chronic disease.” Following the encouraging results from the CTEP trial, Tykerb is now being studied by GSK in a large, international, randomized Phase II study designed to assess the impact of Tykerb monotherapy on brain metastases by monitoring lesions in the brain using magnetic resonance imaging, a volumetric measure.
[Source: GlaxoSmithKline]
The randomized study, an extention of an earlier Phase II study involving 49 patients, showed that 20 percent of those receving the combo of Tykerb and Xeloda had a minimum of 50 percent volume reduction in measurable brain metastases.
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