The first immunotherapy drug has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat breast cancer.
Tecentriq was approved Friday for treating advanced triple-negative breast cancer, The Associated Press reported.
Triple-negative accounts for about 15 percent of cases of breast cancer.
Tecentriq will accompany the usual treatment of chemotherapy and will help increase the immune system's ability to find and kill cancer cells, according to the AP.
Nine hundred women were studied for the Tecentriq treatment.
Those who had the drug had two months where cancer didn’t get worse, compared to patients who just had chemotherapy. But there were side effects with the combination treatment, including nerve pain and nausea.
For more on how the drug was tested, click here.
Tecentriq costs about $13,400 a month, the AP reported.
Credit: American Cancer Society/Getty Images
Credit: American Cancer Society/Getty Images
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