A giant 'little step' in cancer treatment opening up new therapeutic horizons - (rechallenging with drugs which in the past did not work)

“The novelty factor does not lie in the combination itself, but in the combination of two drugs that had already been administered in the past and had each failed,” explained Dr Javier Cortés, the Head of the Breast Cancer Programme at the VHIO and main author of this work. This not only offers new alternatives for patients with advanced tumours –the most important aspect – but also opens up a parallel dimension of new therapeutic options to the existing treatments, given that it offers numerous combinations between existing pharmacological treatments that not only boost each other but also counteract patients’ resistance to them. “The study focused on HER2 positive breast cancer, although the concept could be applied to the treatment of other tumours”, continued Dr Cortés."