New breast cancer drug reduces recurrence risk in early-stage patients.

A late-stage trial by Novartis has shown that the drug Kisqali, used in people with early-stage HR+/HER2- breast cancer, significantly reduces the risk of the cancer returning after treatment. The trial was a randomized controlled trial of 4,000 patients at 425 sites in 21 countries. Kisqali improved the percentage of people with invasive disease-free survival to 90.4% at three years, compared with 87.1% without it. Side effects included elevated liver enzymes, diarrhea and neutropenia. The drug is priced up to $15,000 a month.