The types of breast cancer drug

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer that is found in American women and women in general around the world. More than 184,000 women are diagnosed with the disease every year. But the disease is not as deadly if treated with the right kind of drug and treatment. In fact experts estimate that women who suffer from the disease at some point in their life can live up to eighty – eighty five years. Thus even though it is likely to send a chill down your spine and shatter your hopes, you have full scope to be optimistic as the disease has increasing variety of treatment options for cure, if treated at the right stage and with the right type drug.

There are a variety of treatment options available these days, with advancement and research in the field. The illness can be detected with self examination of breast, mammography and periodic examination of the breasts. A biopsy is a sure way of detecting the presence of the disease. After the biopsy one can be sure as to what kind of treatment will be needed, and it generally differs from case to case. Thus the drug that is applicable to one is not necessarily applicable to another. Proper treatment needs to be taken from a specialist.

The types of drugs
There are many drugs used for treating breast cancer. Chemotherapy and hormone therapy use various types of drugs to treat the disease. But apart from these there are a variety of drug types available for prevention and treatment.
Following are some of the significant ones that are popular in the market –

• Tamoxifen – This breast cancer drug is available in the market as Nolvadex. It has been used for more than 15 years to prevent recurrence and more than 45 percent of the high risk users have benefited from the drug in terms of potential prevention and treatment.
• Raloxifene – This breast cancer drug is marketed as Evista and is primarily for prevention of osteoporosis but it is known to have qualities that reduce the incidence of the disease.
• Herceptin – This drug is meant for patients with advanced stages of the illness and this combined with chemotherapy is known to make the tumors disappear or shrink. Almost 78 percent of the patients making use of Herceptin have been cured of the disease.

Thus it is no more the terrifying disease that it used to be, as more and more treatments and drugs have come about, which successfully help in the cure. Regular breast examination and a constant look-out for signs of the disease, although is recommended, to avoid complications.

Also read our article about Cancer DrugTamoxifen