What is the significance of affinitor being approved for advanced stage hormone positive breast cancer?

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EllenChuangMD (Physician - Oncology - Hematology/Oncology (Verified) ) - 08 / 03 / 2012

Affinitor (everolimus) is a new class of drugs that was recently approved to be used in combination with exemestane, an aromatase inhibitor. Everolimus blocks a pathway related to cancer cell growth (the PI3K pathway). Studies in the laboratory suggested that this pathway is one of the reasons why ER positive cancer cells may develop resistance to hormonal therapy. In women whose cancers had previously progressed on either letrozole or anastrazole aromatase inhibitors, adding everolimus to exemestane was shown to be more effective than exemestane alone. This is the first time that a drug has been approved that appears to “re-sensitize” cancer cells to hormonal therapy, and that is an important milestone for the treatment of hormone receptor positive breast cancer.
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