According to an article from businesswire.com, the pharmaceutical company Odonate Therapeutics announced the beginning of CONTESSA, a phase three study of the treatment tesetaxel and its function in patients with metastatic breast cancer. The company specializes in treatments that extend the lives of cancer patients and improves their quality of life as well.
The term metastatic breast cancer refers to cancer that originated in the breast but has started to spread to other areas in the body. By this point, the cancer has begun to advance and there is no cure for metastatic breast cancer. However, it can sometimes be treated with some degree of success, often for several years. It is possible for breast cancer to metastasize anywhere in the body, but there are several organ systems where it spreads most commonly. The bones are the most common, however, the cancer also frequently spreads to the brain, liver, and lungs. About ninety percent of people who die from breast cancer are killed when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. This cancer can often occur many years after primary breast cancer (cancer which has not spread to other body areas). To learn more about metastatic breast cancer, click here.
Tesetaxel is an investigational chemotherapy agent. Tesetaxel is from a class of drugs called taxanes. Taxanes were originally derived from the Pacific Yew tree. All drugs in this class that are currently in use must be used intravenously (by injection). However, tesetaxel is administered orally. This gives the treatment some advantages because it is not contain other components that can cause allergic reactions in some patients, which is a significant risk in taxanes used intravenously. In previous testing, the treatment has been proven in its ability to inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors.
