Pharmacy Daily | Osteoporosis drug to treat BRCA1 cancer

Researchers may have found a much less invasive method than performing a mastectomy to help prevent aggressive breast cancer developing in women with the faulty BRCA1 gene. Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute believe the drug denosumab, usually used to treat osteoporosis, could “switch off the culprit cells before they go on to produce breast tumours”. The researchers concluded that denosumab injections could be used in women with a high risk of breast cancer as a preventive measure. “We’re optimistic that if it works it would be the sort of strategy that would help young women buy time before they need to consider the issues of mastectomy,” Professor Geoff Lindeman from the institute told the ABC. Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center are planning to conduct a clinical trial to further examine the changes in breast tissue when a dose of denosumab is administered.

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