Yorkshire team finds tumour drug 'promising'

Experts from Leeds have said the results of a final-stage clinical

trial into the drug eribulin mesylate found it extended life by 2.5 months on average in women with advanced breast cancer.

All the women had undergone several treatment regimes before trying the new chemotherapy, and had either recurrent breast cancer or breast cancer that had spread.

Those treated with eribulin typically survived for 13.1 months, compared with about 10.7 months for women on other treatments recommended by their doctor.

The clinical trial, led by a team in Leeds and presented at a major American cancer conference, involved 762 patients.

Of these, 508 had previously been treated with at least two –and no more than five – chemotherapies, and were compared with 254 women receiving other treatments.

The new drug is based on a natural extract of marine sea sponge but has yet to be approved for widespread use.

It is a man-made copy of a natural product extracted from the sponge Halichondria okadai, and affects the way cells divide.

Lead investigator, Professor Christopher Twelves, from the University of Leeds and St James's Institute of Oncology, presented his findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.

His team believes that adding 22 months to the lives of such seriously ill cancer patients is a big improvement.

He said: "Until now, there hasn't really been a standard treatment for women with such advanced breast cancer.

"For those women who have already received all of the recognised treatments, these are promising results."

The trial was set up to compare the new drug with various other treatments chosen by the women's doctors.