Drug breakthrough could benefit those with common form of breast cancer

Treating patients who have a common form of breast cancer with immunotherapy, as well as chemotherapy, before and after surgery could be effective regardless of their age or if they have gone through the menopause, according to a study.

Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, targets and blocks a specific protein on the surface of certain immune cells which then seek out and destroy the cancerous cells.

In England, it is offered to those with triple negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, which accounts for about 15% of cases.