Breast Cancer, Research Increases Treatment Opportunities. Mortality Rate Reduced by 6%

Professor Lucia Del Mastro

Udine, September 20, 2024 – In 2023, in Italy, breast cancer affected over 55,000 women, representing 30% of all female neoplasms. Although new cases continue to increase, the mortality rate is decreasing: between 2015 and 2020, there was a 6% reduction, largely thanks to the therapeutic progress generated by research.

Italy is among the world leaders in the quality and quantity of studies conducted in this sector, according to experts from the Italian Breast Group (GIM), one of the main independent research consortia in oncology. The GIM Annual Meeting opens today in Udine, where for two days experts will discuss recent scientific developments and plan future activities.

“The GIM, founded in 2002, currently involves 150 centers and more than 500 investigators engaged in non-profit studies,” says Prof. Fabio Puglisi, Scientific Director of the GIM 2024 meeting, Full Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Udine and Director of the Department of Medical Oncology at the IRCCS CRO in Aviano.

“In these 22 years, we have made great progress in both diagnostics and therapeutics. The data speak for themselves: mortality is decreasing, while five-year survival has increased from 80% in the early 2000s to 88% in 2024. In cases diagnosed early, this percentage exceeds 90%. These extraordinary results have been achieved thanks to the expansion of screening programs, but also thanks to constant innovation in therapies. As GIM, we are proud to have contributed significantly to these developments,” continues Puglisi.

Lucia Del Mastro, Full Professor and Director of the Medical Oncology Clinic at the IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino of the University of Genoa, adds: “The scientific production of the GIM is consolidated, with evidence integrated into the main national and international guidelines. Since 2002, we have conducted more than 50 clinical studies throughout Italy. We were the first to study fertility preservation in women with breast cancer”.

“We also studied the optimal duration of adjuvant endocrine therapy for patients at risk of luminal tumor recurrence and focused on the “dose-dense” chemotherapy regimen for high-risk patients, which provides a two-week interval between treatment cycles instead of three. Finally,” Del Mastro continues, “the GIM group was the first group in the world to demonstrate through a phase III clinical trial the possibility of omitting the drug 5fluorouracil from chemotherapy regimens administered after surgery, thus identifying a new treatment regimen characterized by lower toxicity.”

Michelino De Laurentiis, Director of the Department of Breast and Thoracic-Pulmonary Oncology and Director of the UOC of Experimental Clinical Oncology of Breast at the IRCCS “Fondazione Giovanni Pascale” in Naples, highlights: “The GIM group, little known to the public, is actually the largest clinical research organization on breast cancer in Italy and the only one recognized on the international scene. The studies conducted by the GIM have had a significant impact on clinical practice over the last 15-20 years, contributing significantly to the therapeutic advancement for breast cancer. Our research activities are increasingly intensifying. In the near future, we are planning further trials and will discuss in Udine as many as 20 new projects ranging from innovative therapeutic approaches, to studies of biomarkers to personalize therapy, to studies of the social impact of the disease, including “financial toxicity””.

Finally, Prof. Puglisi concludes: “Despite the many successes, there are still areas for improvement in breast cancer research. Bureaucracy is often excessive and the procedures for approving studies, both for ethical and administrative reasons, risk slowing down drug development. We need to streamline these processes to continue to offer patients the best possible care.”