Health
WA breast cancer patient Elysia Harverson trials anti-body conjugates to extend life
Breast cancer patient Elysia Harverson is pinning her hopes for a longer life on a drug so new it doesn’t yet have an official name.
Key points:
- A WA women is among the first in Australia to be treated with a new drug for breast cancer
- Cancer experts say people are living longer, and better, with breast cancer
- Women need to check their breasts and have regular scansÂ
Mrs Harverson, who was diagnosed at just 33, is believed to be the first patient in Western Australia to trial “AZD8205”, one of a new class of cancer drugs called anti-body conjugates.
Cancer experts have stressed there is no cure for breast cancer, nor miracle drugs, but medical advances mean patients are living longer — and better.
Mrs Harverson had recently given birth to daughter Nava when she was rushed to hospital with debilitating back pain in April 2022.Â
It was stage four breast cancer.
“I just thought I’d hurt my back and when it came back as breast cancer, it was basically the worst day of my entire life,” she said.Â
Ticking time bomb
Mrs Harverson said doctors were reluctant to give her a life expectancy, but told her living for another five years would be “a win”.
“But then again, my oncologist also said some people do live 20 years with this disease,” she said.
It was suggested she go on a clinical trial in August after radiation and other forms of chemotherapy failed to slow the cancer’s progression.
Her most recent scan showed promising signs, with a 20 per cent reduction in secondary growths in her liver.
“Day to day I’m feeling really good, even though I’m living with a ticking time bomb,” she said.
“If I can just keep living and taking each treatment as it comes.”
Longer life
Mrs Harverson’s oncologist, Peter Lau, said Mrs Harverson was part of an early phase trial of a drug which was part of a class called antibody-drug conjugates.
Dr Lau, who is also a director at Linear Clinical Research, said antibody drug conjugates were relatively new, and allowed chemotherapy to better target breast cancer tumours, reducing debilitating side effects.
He said more trials were needed for the drug.
“It still doesn’t have an official name, it’s referred to as AZD8205,” he said.
“It’s early days, but we’ve had good results with the patients that we’ve given it to so far … and Mrs Harverson’s progress has been very pleasing.”
Dr Lau said the median survival rate was about five years for people with hormone-receptor positive cancer.
But he said the future was brightening.
“We are still making very good progress with the suite of drugs that we have,” he said.
“Certainly the antibody drug conjugate studies that are being performed at the moment, hopefully we can move to a world where chemotherapy is no longer required — I’m hopeful of that.
“But we still have a way to go in finding a cure for this disease.”
Survival rates increasingÂ
The Cancer Council of WA’s Melissa Ledger while the number of new cases of breast cancer had increased — so had survival rates.
About 2,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in WA in 2019.
About 80 per cent of them were aged over 50.
“Survival is improving in breast cancer because of the investment in research, there’s always new discoveries,” Ms Ledger said.
She urged women to remain vigilant about breast checks, and to see their health worker if they detected any changes.Â
She said women over 40, with no symptoms, should have regular breast scans and should contact Breast Scan WA.
Making memories
Ms Harverson remained hopeful, yet pragmatic, about what the future held.
“Obviously this treatment will most likely fail at some point, it could be at the next scan, it could be five years down the track, we just don’t know,” she said.
“The way I see it is that every year that I live, is another option for more treatment options to be available.
“I’d love to live 20 more years, that would be great.
“That would get me to Nava’s 21st.”
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