Hopes of less expensive drugs for breast cancer and breakthrough in battle against kidney cancer
A drug that is 25% cheaper than the gold standard drug used for breast cancer may be just as effective, a team of scientists have found.
In a clinical trial, the researchers compared Raloxifene with Tamoxifen - the main drug currently used for breast cancer - to see if it was as effective in reducing the incidence of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, who are at an increased risk of developing the disease.
They found that Raloxifene, or Evista as it is commonly known, was as effective as Tamoxifen and had fewer side effects.
Both drugs cut post-menopausal women's risk of developing invasive breast cancer by 50%.
However, the study, which assessed nearly 20,000 women with an average age of 58, found that Raloxifene also cut the risk of uterine cancers and strokes - both possible side-effects of Tamoxifen.
Raloxifene is also cheaper than Tamoxifen, with a month's supply of Raloxifene costing £56, compared with £42 for a month's supply of Tamoxifen.
Raloxifene is currently used to treat osteoporosis.
Meanwhile, another study has discovered that a faulty gene that leads to kidney cancer could pave the way for new treatments to block growth of the disease.
The research, funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust, looked at samples of kidney cells from people suffering from von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) syndrome - an inherited condition that increases a person's risk of developing both benign and malignant tumours, particularly in the kidneys.
It found that kidney cells with faulty VHL were lacking a normal protein molecule, called e-cadherin, which contributes to normal cell behaviour. The loss of this molecule results in a breakdown in communication between neighbouring cells, leading cells to acquire important features of cancer such as invasion and spread.
Lead researcher Professor Patrick Maxwell, of Imperial College London, said: "It is very powerful scientifically to be able to understand how tumours develop. Investigating cells before they develop into tumours could help us to find a way to detect and treat kidney cancer earlier."
