Testing begins on wonder breast cancer drug

A revolutionary new breast cancer drug is about to start being tested in the US and could be on sale within years.

Affitoxin has performed well in a number of medical experiments and it has been found to shrink the most serious of breast cancer tumours.

This new development has given hope to women with HER2-positive tumours that are not responding to Herceptin.

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Cancer sufferers can often become immune to the effects of Herceptin, one of the only drugs available to treat such tumours.

However, Affitoxin has shown promising results in trials, proving to be effective where Herceptin was not.

Jacek Capala, one the drug’s investigators from the National Cancer Institute in the US, said: “Herceptin has revolutionised the treatment of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, but a significant number of tumours acquire resistance to the drug.

“Affitoxin could offer another therapeutic option for those patients whose tumours no longer respond to Herceptin.”

The effectiveness of Affitoxin was discovered after scientists injected the drug into mice with aggressive tumours.

The drug sends a bacterial toxin directly to the cancerous cells, which cause the tumours to stop growing or disappear altogether, the research team said.