Breast cancer has cure —Expert

Against the backdrop of preventing deaths from breast cancer in Nigeria, a study on a drug that cures breast cancer has commenced at the University College Hospital, Ibadan and three other hospitals in Nigeria.

These are the Obafemi Awolowo University  Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife; Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.

This trial which will last for two years is being carried out in collaboration with the University of Chicago Medicine, United States of America and Hoffman-LaRoche Pharmaceutical Company.

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Unveiling the first clinical trial on cancer treatment in Nigeria, Professor Olufunmilayo Olopade, a cancer treatment expert and the study’s principal investigator said the project was to generate evidence that women in Nigeria can be saved from dying from the most deadly form of breast cancer if treated with the drug.

Prof Olopade stated that the drug has been used to effectively cure women with HER-2 positive breast cancer, the deadliest form of breast cancer that produces a special type of substance called HER-2, in the USA and Europe, for over two decades.

The expert said that HER-2 positive breast cancer was common in Nigerian women and as such the importance of the trial to provide evidence that the drug was good in treating this deadly cancer in Nigeria.

According to her, “Herceptin has not been studied among Nigerians before, although results done among the white populations showed that it is good in treating breast cancer patients that need it. However, it is always good to test drugs in each group of people because it is known that different people react differently to the same drug.

“When we give women this drug, before they remove the tumour from their breast, the tumour melts away. Because it melted away, you have a very high chance that the tumour will never come back.

“Breast cancer is not one disease. You have to know what type it is and then the best drug used to target it. We are in this era of precision medicine; it is no longer guesswork.”

Professor Olopade said that the breast cancer clinical trial was a landmark, as it would be the beginning of a new way of treating cancer patients in Nigeria.

The expert stated that breast cancer incidence was rising in Nigeria and linked this to women now living longer, not breastfeeding, having fewer children, gaining excessive weight, drinking alcohol excessively and inheritance of genes associated with breast cancer.

While assuring that the trial will expand to other geopolitical zones of the country with time, she said all women stood a risk of developing breast cancer and as such should regularly undergo breast cancer screening.

Professor Olapade stated that women with lumps in their breasts or had been diagnosed with breast cancer should not run away from seeking appropriate treatment at the hospital since breast cancer is treatable.

The study’s national principal investigator Dr Atara Ntekim stated that 60 patients newly diagnosed with early stage breast cancer who had not received any prior treatment would be enrolled for the trial.

Dr Ntehim said the study would examine whether the tumour will simply melt away with the cancer drug, test the side effects and quality of life of women undergoing the treatment to better understand how best to support women as they go through cancer treatment. They will also be followed up for over 10 years to see any late side effects and whether cancer will reoccur.

Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital, Professor Abiodun Otegbayo, launching the newly developed protocol for Nigerian women with HER-2 positive breast cancer, stated that Nigeria was long overdue for cancer clinical trials as cancer was one of the greatest killer diseases in Nigeria.

Professor Otegbayo declared that tackling deaths from cancer required having clinical trials to know the best medicines to use and accurate data on cancer cases in the country.

He said the trial would also help build local capacity for clinical trials in the country as well as benefit the numerous patients that are diagnosed annually to have breast cancer.

“This will lead to people coming forward when they know that there is a cure. Most cancers are curable when detected early, but the unfortunate thing is many of our patients come when the disease is at an advanced stage,” Professor Otegbayo said.