Partnership to Improve Patient Care

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer, the leading cancer among women of all races in the United States, has been the subject of intense research and successful treatment advances in recent decades. Today, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is nearly 90 percent, compared to 75 percent 35 years ago.

What is breast cancer?

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts from cells of the breast. A malignant tumor is a group of cancer cells that may invade surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. Breast cancer can take on many forms and although it is more common among women, can be found in men as well. Approximately 40,500 women in the United States are expected to die in 2008 from breast cancer, though death rates have been steadily decreasing since 1990. This decline can be attributed to advances in medical treatments, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.

What progress has been made in breast cancer treatment?

The biopharmaceutical industry has developed many successful medicines in the treatment of breast cancer over the past three decades, including Herceptin, Avastin and Tykerb. These drugs have had a major impact on increasing the survival rates of women diagnosed with breast cancer.

In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Herceptin, a monoclonal antibody, for HER2-positive breast cancers, those that overproduce human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Herceptin, in combination with other treatments is proven effective in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, a more aggressive form of the disease that tends to resist standard treatments. Studies indicate that Herceptin leads to a 52 percent reduction in the risk of breast cancer.

Additionally, improved technology in the area of diagnostic and biopsy procedures have contributed greatly to the decline in the mortality rate of breast cancer patients. These advances, including mammography, allow for earlier detection, less invasive procedures and decreased recovery time. For example, vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) is a procedure that involves a biopsy being taken through a small incision in the skin, allowing the surgeon to remove several samples of the tissue with only one insertion of the vacuum and one very small incision in the patient's breast, which reduces scarring and recovery times.

Population-based studies indicate that new medicines and treatments contribute to improved survival rates. According to a recent Cancer article, survival of patients with a recent diagnosis of MBC (metastatic breast cancer) is associated with new medicines. MBC is a cancer that has spread outside the breast to other parts of the body and is more difficult to treat than localized forms of breast cancer. Due to the use of more systematic treatments for MBC, survival rates for patients improved by 30 percent.

Thanks to the availability of treatments for breast cancer, patient outcomes continue to improve and survival rates are on the rise. Thirty-five years ago, 75 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer survived their disease at least five years. Today, nearly 90 percent of breast cancer patients survive longer than five years. In the United States alone, more than 2.5 million women are breast cancer survivors.