New metastatic breast cancer treatment Ibrance is providing hope for thousands of postmenopausal women. The most common type of breast cancer that women are diagnosed with is ER-positive/ HER2-negative or stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Patients with stage IV breast cancer are at significant risk for the cancer cells to spread to other vital organs like lungs, liver, brain, and even bones if they do not start treatment. Ibrance is an FDA-approved oral medication that is intended to treat postmenopausal women with ER-positive/ HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Ibrance is different from other types of treatments available because it has been clinically proven to reduce the spread of cancerous cells in patients who have not started hormone therapy for stage IV or ER-positive/ HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.
Ibrance and Letrozole
Women who have stage IV metastatic breast cancer have a presence of estrogen that over activates the signaling of proteins within the nucleus of cells in breast tissue. Doctors have been able to regress this type of breast cancer using chemotherapy drugs like letrozole, which is a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor that prevents the over production of estrogen that progresses stage IV breast cancer. While the effectiveness of regressing stage IV breast cancer using letrozole alone has been the best treatment option available, the results of new clinical trials show that this chemo drug in combination with Ibrance are far more effective at regressing cancer cells.
Ibrance and Letrozole Recommended Cycle
The active ingredient in Ibrance, palbociclib, is an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor. Proteins CDK4 and CDK6 in essence are responsible for signaling cells to grow and divide. However, these proteins can worsen metastatic breast cancer by growing and dividing cancerous cells that can spread to other regions of the body like the lymph nodes and liver. What’s unique about Ibrance and letrozole is that they both work in combination to prevent the cancerous cells present in breast tissue or other organs. Both drugs achieve this by inhibiting the production of estrogen and CDK4 and CDK6 proteins from growing and dividing cancerous cells that can spread to other healthy organs. The most common side effects women experience while taking Ibrance and letrozole in combination are infections, low white blood cell count, and serious or life threating blood clots in the lungs that could lead to a pulmonary embolism.
During clinical trials, one group of postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer took Ibrance in combination with letrozole, while the second group took letrozole alone. The results of the study showed that women who took Ibrance and letrozole had a median time of 22.2 months of delaying the progression of metastatic breast cancer, while the other group on letrozole alone only showed a median 10.2-month regression of the disease. In essence, the combination of Ibrance and letrozole prevented the progression of stage IV breast cancer by 10 months, when compared to letrozole alone. Get more information about Ibrance and a free discount on the drug by visiting our Ibrance Discount Coupon page.
