New drug for early breast cancer: First progress in 20 years

This is an automatically translated article.

1. Medicines to treat early breast cancer

1.1. Early-stage breast cancer In early-stage breast cancer, abnormal cells have just begun to appear in the ducts of the breast, it is not invasive, so it has not spread to the tissues of the breast as well as the surrounding tissue. It is difficult to detect breast cancer in the early stages because the patient has no symptoms of the disease. There are only cases where screening tests or related diagnoses were inadvertently found to be abnormal.
Entering the first stage, breast cancer patients may have some symptoms: Pain in the chest area, often with a dull pain but no clear rules; The skin around the breasts changes in color and texture; Painful swelling or lymphadenopathy under the skin that persists for several days; Back pain, shoulder or neck pain
Detecting breast cancer in the early stages has a very good prognosis for early breast cancer treatment, patients are often assigned surgery, radiation therapy to remove abnormal cells, combined measures to reduce the risk of developing the disease.
The chance that early stage breast cancer can be cured when using drugs to treat early breast cancer is very high, about 90-100% of cases. However, there are still cases where treatment is not good, breast cancer is not completely eliminated and continues to develop into later stages.
1.2. Drugs to treat early breast cancer: What is Verzenio? Verzenio (chemical name: abemaciclib) is a prescription drug, now approved for patients with advanced HR+, HER2 breast cancer, which accounts for 70% of all breast cancers. The drug is approved to treat advanced or metastatic breast cancer. And it is now approved as an effective treatment for early-stage breast cancer.
Verzenio is a targeted treatment known as a CDK4/6 inhibitor. It works inside cells to block CDK4/6 activity and help stop cancer cell growth. letters.

2. Effects of Verzenio

Verzenio is used:
In combination with endocrine therapy (tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) to treat hormone receptor (HR) positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative adults. early stage breast cancer with a high risk of recurrence as determined by your oncologist. In combination with an aromatase inhibitor as first-line hormone-based therapy for the treatment of postmenopausal (postmenopausal) women and men, with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, hormone receptors Human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer that has gotten worse or has spread to other parts of the body (metastasis). In combination with Faslodex (chemical name: fulvestrant) for the treatment of adults with human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) negative (HR)-negative breast cancer worsened or metastasized to other parts of the body (metastasized) and the disease has progressed following endocrine therapy. Use alone - called monotherapy by doctors - to treat women and men diagnosed with late-stage or metastatic HER2-negative or hormone-positive breast cancer if cancer developed after previous hormone therapy and chemotherapy for metastatic disease. End-stage breast cancer is cancer that has come back (recurred) or spread beyond the breast to the chest wall below the breast. Metastatic breast cancer is late-stage cancer that has spread to parts of the body far from the breast, such as the bones or liver. Hormone therapy drugs treat hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in two ways: By reducing the amount of the hormone estrogen in the body By blocking the action of estrogen on breast cancer cells There are several drugs hormone therapy, including aromatase inhibitors, selective estrogen receptor modulators, and estrogen receptor modulators. To find out if a cancer is hormone receptor positive, most labs use a special staining process to make hormone receptors show up in a tissue sample.

3. How to use Verzenio

For early-stage breast cancer drugs, the usual adult dose for breast cancer:
In combination with fulvestrant, tamoxifen, or an aromatic enzyme inhibitor: 150 mg orally twice a day. When used in combination with this drug, the recommended dose of fulvestrant is 500 mg on days 1, 15, and 29, then once a month. As monotherapy: 200mg orally twice a day Duration of treatment: Until disease progression or intolerable body toxicity occurs.

4. Contraindications when using Verzenio, a drug to treat early breast cancer

Patients who are allergic to any of the ingredients of the drug Verzenio Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant

5. Notes when using Verzenio

There are certain drugs, supplements, and foods you should not take or eat if you are taking Verzenio:
You should not take Verzenio with drugs that are strong CYP3A inhibitors because CYP3A inhibitors slow down the process. the process of removing Verzenio from your body. Should possibly increase the side effects of Verzenio. This class of drugs includes antifungals such as Nizoral (chemical name: ketoconazole). the antibiotic clarithromycin (Biaxin) You should not take Verzenio with drugs that are strong CYP3A inducers because CYP3A inducers speed up the removal of Verzenio from your body. Should possibly make Verzenio less effective for you. This group of drugs includes Rifamate (chemical name: rifampin), an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis, the HIV drug efavirenz (Sustiva), and the narcolepsy modafinil. You should not eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice because they can increase the effects of Verzenio. It is important to know that women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant should not take Verzenio. The drug may harm a developing fetus. If there is any chance you could be pregnant, you must use effective birth control while you are taking Verzenio and for at least 3 weeks after your last dose. Liver or kidney problems: If you have liver or kidney problems, your doctor may adjust your dose of Verzenio. But in some cases, you may not be able to take this medicine. Before you start taking Verzenio, your doctor will order blood tests to check the health of your liver and kidneys. At the same time during treatment, your doctor will also ask you to check your liver and kidney function to make sure they are not affected by the drug. Infection: If you have an infection, your doctor may delay starting Verzenio until your infection improves. This will help you avoid complications of the infection. Blood disorders: Verzenio may lower your blood cell levels. If your blood cell levels are already low, your doctor may have to wait for you to start taking Verzenio. Due to side effects of Verzenio affect blood coagulation function and neutrophil index. Problems with your immune system. Verzenio may decrease the activity of your immune system. And this makes you more susceptible to infection. Before you start Verzenio, your doctor will ask you to run tests to see if your immune system is working properly. And during treatment you will still have to have these tests a few more times.

6. Side effects when using Verzenio

The most common side effect of Verzenio is diarrhea, for most people it starts around the first week of treatment. In clinical trials of Verzenio, approximately 80 to 90% of patients experienced diarrhea. If you are prescribed Verzenio, your doctor will likely give you an anti-diarrheal medicine such as Imodium (chemical name: loperamide) for prevention.
* Other common side effects of Verzenio are: Low white blood cell count; Nausea; Stomachache; Infection; Tired; low red blood cell count; Decreased appetite; Vomiting; Headache; Hair loss; Low platelet count (thrombocytopenia).
* Less common, but serious, side effects include: Jaundice or yellow eyes; Dark or brown urine; Feel very tired; Loss of appetite; Pain in the upper right side of the abdomen; Bleeding or bruising more easily than usual; Severe neutropenia (very low white blood cell count); Blood clot; Interstitial lung disease.
Tell your doctor right away if you experience shortness of breath or shortness of breath or shortness of breath when you are resting or doing a low-stress activity.

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References: breastcancer.org, drugs.com, webmd.com