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October 9, 2007

Study Suggests New Pill Is Better Than Traditional Chemotherapy

Topics: Colon Cancer

There's new hope of less side effects and a better chance of survival for colon cancer patients. An oral drug to treat colon cancer is proving much more convenient than traditional chemotherapy, has fewer side effects - and a study of almost 2,000 patients has shown it is giving them a better chance of surviving the disease.

With traditional chemotherapy, patients visit usually have to visit a hospital or chemotherapy clinic five days a week for injections and then have three weeks off before returning or the next course - and the side effects can be unpleasant.

However, the oral chemotherapy drug Xeloda (capecitabine) offers fewer side-effects and less time in the hospital -- and a trial has shown that patients given the drug were at least as likely to be alive and free of their disease as those on standard chemotherapy (as with the Mayo Clinic regimen).

Xeloda has also been shown to have therapeutic efficacy on human breast carcinoma tissues and cell lines in vitro, and with metastatic breast cancer - both with trastuzumab and in combination with Vinorelbine.

Posted by Richard at October 9, 2007 10:41 PM

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