Novartis cancer treatment licensed

The FDA has approved Novartis's aromatase inhibitor Femara (letrozole) as a first-line treatment for breast cancer. The drug is the first to challenge tamoxifen as breast cancer treatment, according to one of the lead investigators in its clinical trials.

The Phase III trial demonstrated that, in post-menopausal women, Femara delays progression of advanced breast cancer by 9.4 months, as compared with 6 months for tamoxifen. It also scored higher than tamoxifen on tumour response rates, clinical benefit and time to treatment failure, claims Novartis.

Femara works by binding to the aromatase enzyme and preventing it from converting androgens produced by the adrenal glands into oestrogen. This makes it effective for breast cancers which are dependent on oestrogen. The FDA approval allows the drug to be prescribed for post-menopausal women with breast cancers which are fall into the 'hormone receptor positive' or 'hormone receptor unknown' categories.

'Femara shows great promise for becoming the new first-line therapy of choice for post-menopausal women with advanced breast cancer,' claims Dr Robert Smith of South Carolina Oncology Associates, a lead researcher in the trial. Novartis plans to roll out the drug as soon as possible: 'We look forward to being able to offer Femara as a first-line hormonal therapy all over the world,' says Novartis Oncology president David Epstein.