Breast-cancer pill reduces recurrence, death risks, study shows

A new study from the New England Journal of Medicine found that Lynparza, a breast cancer medication, lead to a decrease in death and recurrence of the disease. Professor and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marty Makary told Maria Bartiromo the development is "good news." 

DR. MARTY MAKARY: It really is good news, Maria. This is a population that's a subset of those with breast cancer. It's those with hereditary breast cancer. Those who tend to get breast cancer earlier in life, it's a particular subgroup called those with HER2-negative. That's the receptor status. But in that group, there was a 42 percent reduction in breast cancer recurrence and death. 

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And that study was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine. A study of 1,800 people from 23 countries probably speaks to the promise of this new class of medications called PARP medications.

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Cancer sort of evolves over time, and even though you figure out one pathway, we can kill cancer when it's in one spot through many different ways. It's when it's spread that's the challenge and this drug reduced the rate of spread. 

And I think it also shows that the body naturally repairs cancer cells when they're damaged by chemo and this blocks that repair repairing pathway. So it's a really novel area. And I think we're going to see other cancers benefit even though the indication is applied for at the FDA with a very limited cause right now. But you see doctors use it for more causes, you know, in the future. 

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