Sea sponge-based drug offers hope to breast cancer patients

London, June 8 (ANI): Sea sponge-based breast cancer drug could extend lives, it has been claimed.

According to results of a final-stage clinical trial into the drug eribulin mesylate, the med could extend life by 2.5 months on average in women with advanced breast cancer, reports The Scotsman.

In the study, all the women had undergone several treatment regimes before trying the new chemotherapy, and had either recurrent breast cancer or breast cancer that had spread.

Those treated with eribulin typically survived for 13.1 months, compared with about 10.7 months for women on other treatments recommended by their doctor, claimed the clinical trial, led by a team in Leeds and presented at a major American cancer conference.

The study involved 762 patients.

The new drug is based on a natural extract of marine sea sponge but has yet to be approved for widespread use. It is a man-made copy of a natural product extracted from the sponge Halichondria okadai, and affects the way cells divide, reports The Scotsman.

Professor Christopher Twelves, from the University of Leeds, said: "Until now, there hasn't really been a standard treatment for women with such advanced breast cancer.

"For those women who have already received all of the recognised treatments, these are promising results." (ANI)