Breast Cancer Drug Shows New Promise for Treatment

SAN FRANCISCO — A drug that has been used to help the sickest breast cancer patients now shows promise in treating women in the early stages of a virulent type of the disease, the National Cancer Institute said Monday.

“This is a major advance for many thousands of women with breast cancer,” said Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, NCI’s director.

The biotechnology company Genentech Inc., which makes the drug Herceptin, said it will discuss with federal regulators the possibility of prescribing the drug for more breast cancer patients.

In two human experiments that spanned five years and included more than 5,000 volunteers, the drug — when given with chemotherapy — extended the life expectancy of women who have a genetic mutation that shows up in about 30 percent of breast cancer cases.

Tumors in women given Herceptin were 52 percent less likely to recur.