The Irish arm of a major international breast cancer trial is seeking 50 patients in Dublin, Cork and Waterford to take part.

The trial will involve 4,600 patients in 500 hospitals around the world, including six in Ireland - the Mater Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, St James's Hospital, St Vincent's University Hospital, Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Waterford.

The trial, known as PALLAS, centres on a new treatment for early-stage breast cancer. It will investigate whether the new drug, palbociclib, can decrease the chance of cancer recurrence in people with early-stage HR positive/HER2 negative breast cancer, when given in combination with the current standard anti-hormone therapy.

The Irish arm of the trial is being run by Cancer Trials Ireland, which coordinates cancer trials in this country. Since its establishment in 1996, over 15,000 people have participated in more than 350 cancer trials.

According to consultant medical oncolcogist, Dr Patrick Morris, who is also co-chair of the Breast Group of Cancer Trials Ireland, this is particularly important because ‘no new drugs have been developed for early-stage breast cancer for a number of years'.

"In the last decade, our research has focused on different durations and combinations of available hormone therapy. Palbociclib was used in a trial among patients with advanced breast cancer, which is when cancer has spread from the original tumour. The recently published results show that it reduced the rate of cancer growth by up to 42% when compared to standard hormone therapy alone.

"Given these impressive results for advanced breast cancer, we are tremendously excited about investigating its potential in early-stage breast cancer," he explained.

He also highlighted that this new drug is not yet available to patients with early-stage breast cancer outside of a trial setting.

"We are delighted that Irish participants will have access to the trial. As this is the most common form of breast cancer and up to 30% of patients develop disease recurrence despite the standard adjuvant treatment, there may be many women and men in Ireland in the decades ahead who could potentially benefit from the findings of this trial. It could materially change how early-stage breast cancer is treated in the future," Dr Morris said.

He added that one of the ‘most exciting aspects of this therapy', is the fact that its side-effects appear to be manageable, which will obviously benefit patients.

The trial is expected to take 10 years to complete. Any patients interested in taking part are asked to contact their medical oncologist.

For more information on Cancer Trials Ireland, click here