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A drug intended to treat menopause symptoms could double as breast cancer prevention.
New research from Northwestern University in Illinois found that Duavee, a Pfizer-made drug, “significantly reduced” breast tissue cell growth, which is a major indicator of cancer progression.
A phase 2 clinical trial included 141 post-menopausal women who had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as stage 0 breast cancer, according to a press release from Northwestern.
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This non-invasive breast cancer affects more than 60,000 American women each year, often leading to an outcome of invasive breast cancer.
The women were separated into two groups — one received Duavee and the other took a placebo for a month before undergoing breast surgery.
Duavee is a conjugated estrogen/bazedoxifene (CE/BZA) drug, which combines estrogen with another medication that minimizes the potential harmful side effects of the hormone.
“The key takeaway from the study is that CE/BZA slows the growth (proliferation) of cells in milk ducts of DCIS that expressed the estrogen receptor significantly more than placebo,” Dr. Swati Kulkarni, lead investigator and professor of breast surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital.
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Another major finding is that the quality of life did not differ significantly between the two groups, but patients who took the CE/BZA reported fewer hot flashes during the study, she noted.
“This would be expected, as the drug is FDA-approved to treat hot flashes.”
“What excites me most is that a medication designed to help women feel better during menopause may also reduce their risk of invasive breast cancer.”
Kulkarni presented the study last week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.
The findings are preliminary and have not yet been published in a medical journal.
“What excites me most is that a medication designed to help women feel better during menopause may also reduce their risk of invasive breast cancer,” said the doctor, who is also a Northwestern Medicine breast surgeon.
Women who face a higher risk of breast cancer — including those who have experienced “high-risk lesions” — and who also have menopausal symptoms are most likely to benefit from the drug, according to Kulkarni.
“These women are typically advised against standard hormone therapies, leaving them with few menopausal treatment options,” the release stated.
Study limitations
The researchers said they are “encouraged” by these early results, but more research is required before the medication can be considered for approval as a breast cancer prevention mechanism.
“Our findings suggest that CE/BZA may prevent breast cancer, but larger studies with several years of follow-up are needed before we would know this for sure,” Kulkarni told Fox News Digital.
Dr. Sheheryar Kabraji, chief of breast medicine at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, was not involved in the study but commented on the findings.
“While intriguing, this study is highly preliminary, and more research will be needed before we can conclude that conjugated estrogen/bazedoxifene (CD/BZA), a form of the hormone estrogen commonly prescribed to address symptoms of menopause, prevents invasive breast cancer or is effective at reducing cancer risk,” she told Fox News Digital.
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Kabraji also noted that the study focused on reducing levels of one specific protein, “which does not always predict reduced recurrence of breast cancer.”
“This study did not directly show that CE/BZA treatment reduces the risk of DCIS recurrence or development of invasive cancer,” she noted.
“While intriguing, this study is highly preliminary.”
“Importantly, however, patients who received this therapy experienced no worsening of quality of life, and saw improvement in vasomotor symptoms, such as hot flashes. If found to be effective in preventing breast cancer, CE/BZA is likely to have fewer side effects than current medications used for breast cancer prevention.”
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Lead researcher Kulkarni emphasized that this medication is not for the treatment of invasive breast cancer or DCIS.
“Right now, we can say that women who are concerned about their risk of developing breast cancer can consider this medication to treat their menopausal symptoms,” she added.
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