October is breast cancer awareness month

We all probably know someone who has been deeply affected by breast cancer. While breast cancer remains the most common type of cancer diagnosed among women, there are millions of survivors living in the United States. Many of them provide support, hope, and encouragement to newly-diagnosed patients. 

In 2017, we also saw several breast cancer drug receive approvals by the FDA:

FDA approved abemaciclib (VERZENIO, Eli Lilly and Company) in combination with fulvestrant for women with HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer with disease progression following endocrine therapy.  September 28, 2017

FDA approved neratinib (NERLYNX, Puma Biotechnology, Inc.) for the extended adjuvant treatment of adult patients with early stage HER2-overexpressed/amplified breast cancer, to follow adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy. July 17, 2017

FDA granted regular approval to palbociclib (IBRANCE, Pfizer Inc.) for the treatment of hormone receptor (HR) positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as initial endocrine based therapy in postmenopausal women. March 31, 2017

FDA approved ribociclib (KISQALI, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.), a cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor, in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as initial endocrine-based therapy for the treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer. March 13, 2017

In May, the FDA approved an immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) for any "unresectable or metastatic, microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) solid tumors that have progressed following prior treatment and who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options."

FDA granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA, Merck & Co.) for adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic, microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) solid tumors that have progressed following prior treatment and who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options or with MSI-H or dMMR colorectal cancer that has progressed following treatment with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan.  May 23, 2017

CDC launched Bring Your Brave in 2015 to provide information about breast cancer to women younger than age 45. The Bring Your Brave campaign provides information about breast cancer to women younger than age 45 by sharing real stories about young women whose lives have been affected by breast cancer.