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(NaturalNews) Bayer is currently touting a "breakthrough drug" for breast cancer. A trial showed it can halt tumor growth for about 2.3 months. Used with chemotherapy, it was found to halt tumor growth for about 6 months; the lead investigator for the study said the drug "will be an important addition to our therapeutic armory in breast cancer."

But, let's be serious, is 2.3 months really a breakthrough? And since people are still regularly dying after the treatment, perhaps halting tumor growth for a couple of months isn't nearly adequate? The cost of these pills is between $4,500 - 5,400 per month.

Bayer hopes to make $2.9 billion annually from the drug, but even if it performs as expected, the patient won't benefit more than another season. The 2.3 months beat analysts' expectations, which leave one wondering just how low their expectations were to begin with.

The drug, called Nexavar, is also approved for liver and kidney cancer.

In fact, the results of the liver cancer trials were the talk of the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in 2007. For late stage liver cancer, the "median survival was 10.7 months for those who took the drug, compared with 7.9 months for those who took placebo."

Less than three months were added to the patients' lives, and this was cause for tremendous excitement among medical professionals. A Wall Street Journal blogger used the headline "Nexavar Works Against Liver Cancer." But can this tiny amount even be called working?

Since the patients are also on chemo, one can imagine how great their quality of life must have been, between the hair loss and vomiting.

To top it off, patients on this drug will often have diarrhea and skin problems, along with hair loss and vomiting. And keep in mind that skin problems, diarrhea and vomiting are all symptoms of what the body does when it needs to remove poisons from itself. In these incidences, the body is using the elimination methods of the bowel, skin and stomach.

But let's get back to the bottom-line and look at why this is a breakthrough.

Liver patients take the drug for about 11 months (before they die) and this pads the medical establishment's bottom-line by about $55,000 - per patient. This doesn't include the costs of chemotherapy and other drugs, which can add another $100 to 300 thousand to the bill. It sure sounds like a breakthrough for medical profits, but not for any patient.

The tiny extension shown in this trial is enough to get it approved, so breast cancer patients will soon hear the words "breakthrough treatment," but with a whole different set of expectations. It'll be curious to see how thoroughly such a flimsy breakthrough is explained to patients.

An honest explanation might be, "If you follow our recommended treatment, you'll probably need to sell your home to pay your share, so I hope your spouse won't mind being homeless in addition to losing you. Then, you can spend a couple extra months of your life vomiting, rushing to the toilet, in a wig, and with bad skin. Afterward, there's a very decent chance you'll die. It's our latest FDA-approved breakthrough, are you interested?"

At $4,500 to $5,400 per month, aren't you curious how much profit margin is in those pills? Some drugs are known to have 100,000 or even 500,000 percent profit margins above the active ingredients. Do you think that's the case with these little pills too?

Part of the problem is that drug companies have been having significant problems lately, because many of their "breakthrough drugs" aren't showing any benefits over sugar-based placebo pills. This is the case for drugs that have gone through several stages of trials and have been called breakthroughs to the industry, before a sugar pill eventually wins out.

Now, when a trial shows any tiny benefit it's a breakthrough for the drug company because they can get it approved. Hence, it's rushed through the FDA, and to doctors' prescription pads, no matter what the expense, how small the benefit, or at what cost to quality of life.

More:
http://health.yahoo.com/news/reuter...
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/07...
http://www.naturalnews.com/026962_m...
http://www.naturalnews.com/026556_d...
http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazi...

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