Get-To Know about Latest Medication in Treating Metastatic Breast Cancer
We have been using vaccines for well over a century now to protect us from the infectious diseases that are harmful to living kind. As the researchers and medical engineers are busy with developing the vaccine for the deadly virus(COVID-19) that has resulted in the slowing down the activities of the whole world, some medical engineers who are focused on giving life-saving treatments such as breast cancer, lung cancer, brain tumour, and many more.
Vaccines are designed to initiate a preventive action in the immune system towards a harmful intruder, such as bacteria or a virus; this response will then be remembered by the immune system. This means if the same type of intruder (bacteria or virus) tries to disrupt the immune system in future, it will fight back with the same amount of capacity to destroy the virus.
Today, we are going to discuss the most dangerous stage of breast cancer when it spreads to other parts of the body and how you can get it treated through our prescribed life-saving medication.
Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (also called stage IV) is a type of breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body, most commonly the liver, brain, bones or lungs. According to the Oncostem, one woman loses her life every 13 minutes in India due to lack of awareness and delay in screening and diagnosis. With the patients suffering from breast cancer in India, more than 50% of patients have reached stage 3 and stage 4, where the chances of survival are extremely low.
How does the Cancer Spread, or Metastasize?
The spread of cancer usually happens through one or more of the following steps:
- Cancer Cells Invade Nearby Healthy Cells: When the healthy cell is taken over, it can replicate more abnormal cells.
- Cancer Cells Enter in the Circulatory or Lymph System: Cancer cells travel through the walls of nearby lymph vessels or blood vessels.
- Migration through Circulation: Cancer cells are carried by the lymph system and the bloodstream to other parts of the body.
- Cancer Cells Lodge in Capillaries: Cancer cells stop moving as they are lodged in capillaries at a distant location and divide and migrate into the surrounding tissue.
While the symptoms may vary depending on how far your breast cancer has spread and what type of tissue the new cancer growth has invaded, it is paramount that your physician knows the symptoms.
Now, we will be getting to know about two new medication treatments that have emerged for women with the metastatic triple-negative breast cancer which have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the positive results from the clinical trials.
Getting Friendly with the Live-Saving Drug: Enhertu(fam-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-nxki)
Enhertu is a brand-name prescription drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat HER2-positive (HER2+) or Triple Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer in women and men. Here HER2+ means the cancer cells have abnormally high levels of a protein called HER2, which promotes cell growth. The drug can be used for
- People who have had at least two or more previous HER2 treatments for triple-negative metastatic breast cancer.
- People who have had unresectable (which cannot be removed or treated with surgery) metastatic Breast Cancer.
Enhertu contains the combination of drug fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki, which includes two active drugs. The first drug is fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan, a HER2 antibody and second drug is DXd, which is a topoisomerase I inhibitor (a type of chemotherapy). This combination drug works productively in treating the metastatic breast cancer as HER2 antibody helps the chemotherapy drug reach the HER2 cancer cells and then damage the cancer cells which leads to the extinction of them.
Taking the Enhertu Treatment
The FDA-approved drug received accelerated approval based on information provided from early clinical trials for use in adults with triple-negative metastatic breast cancer. Now, let us understand how the treatment through the drug is given to people.
Enhertu comes as a powder that is mixed with the liquid to form a solution. It is directly infused in the vein that lasts a certain length of time. Enhertu is usually prescribed at a dosage of 5.4 mg/kg. To treat metastatic breast cancer, generally, the dosage is given once every 3 weeks. Your first infusion will last 90 minutes and after that, every infusion will be 30 minutes. The length of your infusion will vary upon how you react to Enhertu.
Tracing Down the Possible Side Effects
- Mild Side Effects: Nausea, Vomiting, Fatigue, Headache, Common Cold, Cough, Common cold, Hair loss, digestive problems such as indigestion, constipation and diarrhoea.
- Serious Side Effects: Allergic reactions (swelling under your skin, eyelids, lips, tongue, mouth, throat), Interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis, blood disorders such as anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. You may also experience reduced heart function.
- Avoid getting pregnant during the treatment. It will have negative effects on the health of the foetus.
Getting Friendly with Trodelvy (Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy)
Trodelvy is an antibody-drug conjugate (an antibody with a cell-killing medication attached to it) directed against a protein called Trop-2 (trophoblast cell surface antigen 2), found on the surface of some cancer cells. The life-saving drug for the ones who are suffering from triple-negative metastatic breast cancer that has no receptors for the hormones estrogen and progesterone, as well as no receptors for the HER2 protein.
Trodelvy is an immune targeted therapy medicine which is made up of:
- Sacituzumab which is a type of molecule called a monoclonal antibody, that targets the Trop-2 protein; which is found in more than 90% cases.
- SN-38 is again an element which Enhertu also uses- a topoisomerase I inhibitor chemotherapy which works by interfering with the cancer cells’ ability to replicate.
- A compound which is that links the Sacituzumab to SN-38.
Taking the Trodelvy Treatment
The FDA approved Trodelvy based on the results of clinical trials of 108 patients which received the response rate of 33.3% with the median duration of response of 7.7 months which also resulted in tumour shrinkage. Now, let’s see how the drug doses are given to the people.
Before each dose, you will be given medications, which will prevent any reactions, nausea and vomiting. Trodelvy is directly delivered into your bloodstream through a port. It is given once a week and day eight of a continuous 21-day treatment cycle.
Tracing Down the Possible Side Effects
Find out the mild or serious side effects caused by Enhertu that may occur during or after the treatment. They include:
- Low White-Blood-Cell counts, Anemia, Nausea, Diarrhoea, Fatigue, Vomiting, Hair Loss, Constipation, Skin rashes, Decreased Appetite, Abdominal Pain.
- Severe Neutropenia may occur.
- Severe Diarrhoea may occur. It is predominant to monitor patients with diarrhoea and give fluids and electrolytes as needed.
Reproductive Issues
It is recommended that you should not plan to give a child while on this medication as it can have bad effects on the health of the unborn child. Effective birth control is necessary during treatment and for 48 hours after your last dose finishes. You should not breastfeed while receiving this medication.
Be it Enhertu or Trodelvy, schedule an appointment for a consultation with the best doctor for the treatment. You can also reach out for the advisors at Indian Pharma Network as they will guide you through the treatment and will help you arrange the medicines for the treatments.
Status of Treatment in India
As these two drugs received prioritized FDA approval in 2020 and were termed as breakthrough therapy designation based on the reports from clinical trials. It is intended to treat a serious condition when preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapies. Haematologists and Doctors are highly recommending the use of Enhertu and Trodelvy in India. If you want to know about these two treatments, consult the best organisation for knowing about the drug such as ourselves because we will guide you in all the processes, from reaching out the best physicians to making out the arrangements for your treatments. As the medicine requires a special license to formally import the vaccine as per the doctor’s consultation, prices may vary depending upon country-to-country.
Enhertu and Trodelvy are a cold change medication that needs to protected from direct exposure to light and transported with the utmost care by maintaining the temperature conditions from 2 to 8 Degrees. The potency of the drug can be harmed if not transported and stored as per the manufacturer’s specifications.
Therefore, we recommend you to choose the best platform such as ourselves to procure life-saving medicines that are not available in India. At Indian Pharma Network, professionals in pharmaceuticals industry can access genuine and guaranteed services for all types of life-saving treatments in India.
Get in touch with of best pharmaceutical consultants at Indian Pharma Network as we will assist you with the best advice and any medication that you need from any part of the globe.
Visit: https://indianpharmanetwork.co.in/
Or
Call Mr Neeraj Nagpal on 9811747774
Reference Links
- https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2020/tucatinib-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-her2-positive-metastatic-breast-cancer
- https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/recur_metast
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/enhertu#for-professionals
- https://www.rxlist.com/trodelvy-drug.htm#indications
- https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-therapy-triple-negative-breast-cancer-has-spread-not-responded-other-treatments
- https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/targeted_therapies/trodelvy
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/enhertu#about
