Cancer Trials Ireland have announced a new test which will treat patients with advanced breast cancer.

The new treatment will be for women who have not responded to currently available treatments.

It is expected that up 34 patients will take part in the trial which will be conducted over the next two to three years. The women are attending Dublin’s St James’s Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, Vincent’s Hospital, and University Hospital Galway and Cork University Hospital.

The trial is being led by Professor Bryan Hennessy, oncologist at Beaumont Hospital, who said the trial was of a brand new drug designed for women who have treatment-resistant cancer to make them sensitive to treatment again.

Women will be given a standard drug – trastuzumab – along with the new drug.