Not Your Mother's Breast Cancer Treatment-Or Outlook

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Breast cancer is in transition-from an acute disease that killed quickly to a chronic disease that can be managed, much like diabetes or heart disease. In an April 2007 report, the biotech intelligence firm BioSeeker Group reported that three million women in the United States are living with breast cancer-with living the key word. Although the breast cancer diagnosis rate remains high, the overall breast cancer death rate has dropped steadily, at about 2% per year since the early 1990s.

Today's longer survival rates have come about using mostly "old-fashioned" drugs. With the recent emergence of more targeted "smart" drugs, the outlook is for even greater emphasis on maintenance …