AZ, Gilead program helped Black breast cancer patients: study

A year after a clutch of major pharmas threw their weight behind a new campaign devoted to addressing the serious health disparities facing Black breast cancer patients, “Care for HER” has been shown to have a tangible positive impact on patients’ lives. Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance and Unite for HER—the two nonprofit organizations behind the program—presented a study about that impact at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium on Wednesday. The research centers ran a survey of 57 participants in the Care of HER program, all Black women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, 93% of whom said they’d used the program’s resources. Care for HER offers patients free access to integrative therapies and services, plus round-the-clock, culturally tailored navigational support from Black nurses and social workers who are breast cancer survivors, too. In the survey, close to 100% of participants said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the services, rating their likelihood of recommending the program to others at an average of 9.4 out of 10. Three-quarters of those surveyed said the program’s resources helped reduce unwanted physical side effects, and more than 80% said it lessened at least one aspect of financial stress. Overall, 85% said they experienced a reduction in distress thanks to the program, from an average of 6.6 on a 10-point scale to 2.7 after using Care for HER. Additional effects of the initiative included overwhelming improvements in the participants’ understanding of their diagnosis and treatment options and of the resources and services available to them. Close to 90% said they felt equipped to follow their treatment plan, and 84% reported being able to advocate for themselves and their care. “We’re ecstatic that we can directly address a considerable need for Black breast cancer patients, providing services that they couldn’t access otherwise,” Ricki Fairley, CEO of Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance, said in a statement. “On top of that, the ability to generate more data on Black breast cancer is paramount to advancing science for Black women. The more research we are included in, the closer we get to closing disparity gaps in breast cancer.” Care for HER launched in October 2024 with a plan both to raise awareness of the benefits of integrative care—like acupuncture, massage, counseling and more—and culturally tailored nurse navigation support for Black breast cancer patients, as well as to provide those services free of charge to individuals across the U.S. The campaign aims to address the major health disparities still facing Black patients, who have a higher mortality rate than their white counterparts at every stage of breast cancer, with an overall mortality rate about 40% higher than that of white breast cancer patients. To start, financial support for the program came from presenting sponsors Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, with additional backing from Merck, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Guardant. A year later, Gilead has joined AZ as a presenting sponsor, while Daiichi is now listed as a supporting sponsor, and Merck, Lilly, Novartis, Genentech, Guardant and Natera are all community sponsors for the program.