A drug manufactured in Ireland for the international market has been shown to increase significantly the survival rate of women with ovarian cancer - a disease which claims the lives of most women it affects.
The results of an international clinical trial revealed that Taxol, manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb in Swords, Co Dublin, also increased the chance of cure for certain patients. It was the largest trial ever conducted for women with the disease.
Three hundred people are employed in the Swords plant and a significant announcement on jobs is expected soon.
The results will be published today in Los Angeles at the largest cancer congress in the world, the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Over 280 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed in Ireland each year, with a high rate of mortality. The most aggressive of all gynaecological cancers, it affects over 25,000 women in Western Europe each year, killing 17,000. It is most common in women over 55 years. However, one in 10 cases occur in younger women.
In Brussels yesterday it was revealed that over 680 women were involved in the EuropeanCanadian study at over 100 research sites, including Belfast City Hospital. A combination of Taxol and cisplatin, a platinum compound, was used.
According to the research group the survival rate showed that women who received the Taxol combination survived for an average of 35 months, compared to 25 months on a different combination.
"Results in the full range of patients studied show that we can extend survival by at least 10 months in patients with very advanced disease," said Prof Francoise Meunier, director general of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).
Dr Martine Piccart, chairwoman of the EORTC treatment division and the principal investigator of the trial, said women have a right to the best possible care. "We must now work together to make this treatment widely available in Europe."
She said the researchers believed that for patients at the earlier stage - and those who have had their tumour completely removed surgically - use of the Taxol-cisplatin regimen will increase the chance of cure.
But Dr Piccart said there was "no magic bullet". She highlighted the importance of clinical trials. "What we have found here is quite remarkable in medical oncology to show these improvements in survival rates. Now we must continue to improve the therapy."
Dr David Fennelly, consultant medical oncologist at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, described it as a very important study for cancer physicians managing patients with ovarian cancer.
"It confirms the significant benefit of the addition of Taxol to the management of patients with advanced ovarian malignancy. In addition it emphasises the tolerability and feasibility of this treatment regime for patients with advanced disease."
It was revealed yesterday that cancer specialists are having difficulty in getting financial resources from the health service in the UK to prescribe Taxol for patients. The drug costs £5,000 per course of treatment per patient.
However, according to a spokesman for Bristol Myers Squibb, the drug has been available in Ireland for the past four years and is already used as a "first-line" drug in the treatment of ovarian cancer in Irish patients.
Ovarian cancer is difficult to treat because it is often not detected until it has reached an advanced stage. Consequently it kills more women than cancer of the cervix and uterus combined, explained Dr Piccart.
Rates of the disease are higher in northern Europe than the south, and are similar to the geographical pattern seen in breast cancer.
Symptoms include weight loss, bloating, indigestion, persistent constipation or diarrhoea. In the early stages when the tumour is restricted to the ovary it can be treated relatively easily with surgery.
The exact causes are unknown, although ovulation appears to play a role. It is more common in women who have not had children and there is evidence that the contraceptive pill protects against it. Women with one close relative with ovarian cancer may have a slightly increased risk of developing the disease.
To date a number of different screening methods for ovarian cancer have been tried but none has proved effective.
The study confirms the results of a US study which first demonstrated the benefits of Taxolcisplatin combination therapy in 1996.