Clinical Trial with 4-Hydroxy-17 α-methyl-19-nortestosterone in Advanced Breast Cancer

Abstract

Twenty-two women with advanced breast cancer underwent clinical trial with a new hormonal compound, 4-hydroxy-17 α-methyl - 19 - nortestosterone (HMNT), in order to evaluate the antitumor activity of this steroid. The age of the patients ranged from 39 to 72 years; the compound was administrated i.m. at the dose of 50 mg a day, regularly and continuously, as long as a new progression of the neoplastic lesions was observed (in one case the treatment went on over a period of 13 months). An objective regression of the lesions was obtained in 8 of the 22 patients treated. The most impressive clinical feature of this new drug seems to consist in a more marked effect in premenopausal women, under 50 years of age. The compound proved to be practically free of virilizing action and of other unwanted side-effects, at least at the doses employed in this study.