
“I was keen to go on a clinical trial. I wanted to try new cancer treatments and hopefully help future generations.”
This trial was looking at a drug called AZD8931 for breast cancer. It was for women with breast cancer that was locally advanced, or had spread to another part of the body, and was hormone receptor positive.
Doctors often use hormone therapy to treat breast cancer. One of the drugs they commonly use is called anastrozole. Researchers are looking for ways to improve . In this study, they were looking at a drug called AZD8931 together with anastrozole.
AZD8931 is a type of biological therapy. It works by blocking certain proteins in cancer cells that send signals telling the cells to divide. Turning off this signalling can help to kill cancer cells.
The aims of this trial were to see
The researchers found that adding AZD8931 did not work better than anastrozole alone.
The trial recruited 359 women. Their average age was 61. They all had breast cancer that was hormone receptor positive and they hadn’t had any other hormone treatment for breast cancer before joining the trial.
The trial was randomised. The women taking part were put into 1 of 3 groups by a computer. Neither they nor their doctors could decide which group they were in.
Everybody took anastrozole tablets
The researchers looked at some early results to see how long the women were living without any signs that their cancer was getting worse. They found that on average this was
Women in all 3 groups had side effects, but serious side effects were more common in the groups having AZD8931 than in the anastrozole alone group. And more women having AZD8931 stopped anastrozole treatment because of bad side effects compared with the anastrozole alone group.
In view of these results, the committee that monitors the safety and design of the trial (the data monitoring committee) recommended that the trial was stopped. This was because these results suggested it was very unlikely the trial would be able to show that AZD8931 and anastrozole was better than anastrozole alone.
We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () but may not have been published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Professor Stephen Johnston
AstraZeneca
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
National Institute for Health Research Cancer Research Network (NCRN)
Freephone 0808 800 4040
“I was keen to go on a clinical trial. I wanted to try new cancer treatments and hopefully help future generations.”