PUBLIC HEALTH & EDUCATION | Daily Women's Health Policy Report Examines Breast Cancer News from ASCO Conference
[June 4, 2008]

Several breast cancer-related studies recently were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, which began Friday. Summaries appear below.

~ Disparities in Georgia: Black women in Georgia who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer are less likely to receive adequate health care than white women in the state, even when they have health insurance, a study presented at the conference found, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The study was conducted by HealthCore, a research subsidiary of WellPoint. Researchers analyzed claims data and medical charts of more than 3,000 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia members who were diagnosed with breast cancer between January 2000 and August 2005. The study concluded that "culturally sensitive and targeted interventions must be developed to increase earlier detection of breast cancer in [blacks], increase the percentage of patients that receive hormonal therapy when it is indicated and include management of co-morbid conditions" (Hendrick, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/2). An abstract of the study is available online.

~ Funding: Some leading cancer researchers at the conference said that five years of flat federal funding for cancer research could "undo major strides made against the disease," the Wall Street Journal reports. ASCO President Nancy Davidson said during a Friday news conference that during the last five years, researchers have experienced an approximately $500 million decline in real spending on cancer research. She said research into breast cancer, melanoma, sarcoma and pediatric cancers have decreased as a result. Davidson said the current period is "longest sustained period of flat funding" she could remember. John Niederhuber, director of the National Cancer Institute, said NCI's $4.8 billion fiscal year 2008 budget has remained in a "flat trough" since 2004 (Chase, Wall Street Journal, 5/31).

~ Zometa: A study that examined the effect of osteoporosis drug Zometa on breast cancer patients found that it reduced the risk of cancer recurrence in premenopausal women by 36%, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (Newson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/31). For the study, Michael Gnant of the Medical University of Vienna and colleagues examined more than 1,800 premenopausal women who were receiving hormone treatments for early-stage breast cancer. Half of the participants only received hormone treatments, while the other half received hormone treatments and Zometa (Goldstein, Wall Street Journal, 6/2). According to the AP/Boston Herald, if another study confirms the findings, some physicians predict that Zometa "will quickly be tested against other cancers," that typically spread to the bones, such as prostate and kidney cancer (Marchione, AP/Boston Herald, 6/1).





The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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