Gaining nearly 4 years of extra time with the novel breast cancer-slowing drug, capivasertib
So far, so good, capivasertib remains a fringe product needing more funding and regulatory approvals by governmental health agencies.
The recent outcomes of past decades already point to it – how breast cancer is especially prevalent in higher and upper-middle-income countries, but there are other places where women are equally shouldering heavy burdens of occurrence as the world spins faster, like what the evidence shows for those in Nigeria, so will a novel pill that buys patients time get to them in time?
Capivasertib is possibly the timeliest intervention they can get because it has been suggested that with this drug, patients in the advanced stages of cancer, before any eventuality, have those extra bits of moments with their loved ones, as taking this new medication would have delayed the speed at which the disease would have normally progressed sans the daily dosage.
Sadly, in Nigeria, a lower-middle-income country, breast cancer presents the most common malignant tumour among women. It is believed to account for 22.7 percent of all new cancer cases, in addition, making it a bet that many patients here will be looking forward to taking two tablets per day to get that extra time.
Far away in England, in the United Kingdom, Linda Kelly, 67, described by a BBC News report as a keen gardener, has revealed a world-load of possibilities even though her experience with cancer at this point only insinuates limited time to spend with friends.
It does let you have a normal kind of life, and you forget you have cancer, says the late sexagenarian. Within the added time Capivasertib has afforded her, she has stuck to her 60-mile daily cycling routine, and she has been reported as thinking that the pill is fantastic.
There have been side effects using the drug, no doubt, but they only present minor discomfort. The 67-year-old, because of the new lease of life she has been given, has been on holiday to New Zealand with her husband Neil. This happened the previous year, as thoughts go deeply into the next trip to the United States before 2025 concludes.
Kelly says you feel the drug is working, and you can be a lot calmer – it’s given me nearly four years of extra time, but what is the chance of every advanced-stage breast cancer patient getting their hands on this drug?
So far, so good, capivasertib remains a fringe product needing more funding and regulatory approvals by governmental health agencies. Clinical trials targeted at testing the efficacy of the drug were recorded in 2023, with 708 patients undergoing randomisation
In the results, capivasertib–fulvestrant therapy resulted in significantly longer progression-free survival than treatment with fulvestrant alone among patients with hormone receptor–positive advanced breast cancer whose disease had progressed during or after previous aromatase inhibitor therapy with or without a CDK4/6 inhibitor like abemaciclib, ribociclib and palbociclib, for example.
These trials were funded by AstraZeneca and the National Cancer Institute. Linda Kelly, since she got placed on her pills, has been reveling in a moment in time that make you think about your life, and what you want to do with your life in the future – but at least you feel well enough to make those plans and confident enough as well to fulfil some of those plans.
Professor Nick Turner is an internationally recognised leader in cancer research who contributed to making the novel drug possible.
Included in Turner’s consultant’s profile, it states that he is currently Professor of Molecular Oncology and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden, while being the lead researcher in the study to create capivasertib.
Talking to the BBC, he sees a drug that presents a very effective option that can work for a long time – many months, and in some people it can be years.
According to the researcher, the main perk is a twice-daily pill that can substantially delay chemotherapy, which many women fear because of the side effects. Although patients would have cost considerations, ultimately, in Prof. Turner’s thinking, advanced breast cancer is highly treatable, and we want kinder, better treatments.
Heading back to Nigeria, there is a Journal of Cancer Policy publication focusing on the out-of-pocket cost of breast cancer care in the country, all the more questioning the affordability of new treatments.
It pointed out that not only is it that 70 percent of the women there will experience a catastrophic healthcare expenditure during their breast cancer journey, but payments for essential cancer care would also have a negative and lasting impact on the entire household.
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Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
