Longevity, Side Effects Compared In Breast Cancer Drugs

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A comparison of similar breast cancer drugs says one drug prolongs life a bit more, but has more severe side effects.

The study, led by Dr. Peter Ravdin at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, compared Taxol and Taxotere.

Taxol is a derivative of the Pacific yew tree, while Taxotere is a similar drug made by a semi-synthetic process. Both drugs interfere with cell division, but there are some differences in how they act.

In the first head-to-head comparison in about 450 women with incurable breast cancer, women on Taxotere showed greater tumor shrinkage. They also survived a few months longer -- 15.4 months on average vs. 12.7 months for Taxol recipients.

"Although that's a modest difference, for those people who lived longer it was important," Ravdin said.

But Taxotere patients had more side effects, including diarrhea, vomiting, mouth ulcers, fewer infection-fighting white blood cells, and more infections.

The study was supported by Aventis Pharmaceutical, maker of Taxotere, and Ravdin presented the findings Wednesday at the European Conference of Clinical Oncology in Copenhagen.

Ravdin said the two drugs have been under study for about 10 years at the two institutions.