A study on a breast cancer drug Herceptin has been described as "revolutionary" and "stunning" after it was found to be amazingly effective against an aggressive form of early breast cancer.
The study shows Herceptin cuts the risk of relapse in half when given in the early stages of the disease.
The head of breast cancer therapeutics at the National Cancer Institute in the United States said: "In 1991, I didn't know that we would cure breast cancer, and in 2005, I'm convinced we have."
But Herceptin is not for every patient. Only 20 per cent of breast cancer patients have the sort of tumors that Herceptin treats.
Nonetheless, the importance of the drug, which is already being used to treat advanced cases, is being hailed by experts.
A doctor at the University of Kentucky says it appears to have turned one of the worst kinds of cancer into one with "a relatively good prognosis."
Studies on Herceptin will be published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
AP