Drugs make headway against lung, breast, prostate cancers
CHICAGO (AP) — Newer drugs are improving survival for some people with hard-to-treat forms of cancer.
One study in advanced lung cancer tested Keytruda (kee-TROO-dah), a drug that helps the immune system fight tumors.
Five-year survival was 23% for people who got Keytruda as part of their initial therapy and 16% for those who tried other treatments first. In the past, only 5% of such patients lived that long.
Another study found that adding the drug Kisqali (kiss-KALL-ee) to usual hormone therapy helped young women with the most common type of breast cancer.
After about three years, 70% of women given Kisqali were alive versus 46% of others who only received hormone therapy.
The results were featured Saturday and Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago.
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