Cancer drug may help preserve fertility in women with breast cancer

WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- The drug goserelin, sold by AstraZeneca under the brand name Zoladex, may help protect the ovaries of women with breast cancer.

"It's not a panacea, but based on these data, it may be the right choice for some patients," study author Dr. Ann H. Partridge, a breast cancer specialist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told The New York Times.

Zoladex is used to suppress production of the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen in those with breast and prostate cancer.

The medication, which is given via injection, temporarily shuts down the ovaries.

Currently, women who have breast cancer and may want to have children later can increase their odds of having a child by having multiple eggs removed from their ovaries and frozen. But this is a costly and invasive procedure and can delay breast cancer treatment for two to three weeks.

The clinical trial involved 257 premenopausal women undergoing chemotherapy before or after having their breast cancer tumors removed surgically.

The trial found two years after starting chemotherapy, 8 percent of the women who had received the monthly goserelin injections experienced ovarian failure, compared to 22 percent of the women who did not take the injections. In addition, 21 percent of the women in the goserelin group became pregnant, compared to 11 percent in the control group.