Promising Experimental Treatment Offers Hope for Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

For Immediate Release
Date: 09/7/05

Contact: Renee Gaudette (203) 785-2143

New Haven, Conn. — Each year, approximately 20 percent of breast cancer patients will develop metastases in the brain, a complication that carries nearly uniform mortality. Available treatment options provide limited benefit in improving the survival of these patients, with life span averaging 4.5 months with the current standard of care. Equally troubling is that the incidence of brain metastases is on the rise, owing to better success treating breast cancer and improved imaging techniques.

Yale Cancer Center is participating in a worldwide clinical trial called ENRICH, designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an experimental drug called EFAPROXYN in prolonging the survival of metastatic breast cancer patients. Physicians are encouraged by results from an earlier Phase 3 trial, which found that median survival time nearly doubled among patients with brain metastases originating from breast cancer who received EFAPROXYN versus those who did not.

EFAPROXYN works by enhancing oxygen delivery to oxygen-deprived tumor tissue, which has been shown to be resistant to the lethal effects of radiation. By increasing the level of oxygen in tumors at the time of treatment, EFAPROXYN has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of radiation therapy and prolong patient survival.

Dr. Jonathan Knisely, principal investigator for the ENRICH trial at Yale Cancer Center, and colleagues, Drs. Joanne Weidhaas and Susan Higgins, are available to discuss:

Yale Cancer Center's involvement in the ENRICH trial
Available treatment options for brain metastases patients
Reasons for growing incidence of brain metastases
Importance of clinical trials in discovering better ways to treat cancer

For more information on the trial at Yale Cancer Center, please contact Colleen Malone, RN at (203) 737-2421.