A new drug is giving hope to sufferers of breast cancer -- because early studies of the drug suggest that it slows the development of the cells that cause the deadly disease!

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the drug, which was put out by Pfizer and Eli Lilly, slows down the production of CDKs, which are the main pathogen behind the development of the deadly disease. Researchers believe they've overcome that problem by targeting two specific proteins, known as CDK 4 and 6, with the drugs, not the whole class of proteins they belong to.

This bit of news, according to Bloomberg, is giving a lot of hope to oncologists who have spent countless hours trying to cure the disease that has afflicted at least 1 in 4 women in the United States. "There haven't been a lot of new drugs in this space," said Judy Garber, an oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "These, to me, are the most exciting drugs to come along in the treatment of estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer in a long time."

Breast cancer is a type of cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas, while those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas. Breast cancer occurs in humans and other mammals. While the overwhelming majority of human cases are in women, breast cancer can also occur in men.

Worldwide, breast cancer accounts for 22.9 percent of all cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers) in women. Breast cancer is more than 100 times more common in women than in men, although men tend to have poorer outcomes due to delays in diagnosis.

Prognosis and survival rates for breast cancer vary greatly depending on the cancer type, stage, treatment, and geographical location of the patient. Survival rates in the Western world are high; for example, more than 8 out of 10 women (85 percent) in England diagnosed with breast cancer survive for at least five years. In developing countries, however, survival rates are much poorer.