A twice-daily pill could help some advanced breast cancer patients avoid or delay follow-up sessions of chemotherapy, a new clinical trial reports. The drug olaparib (Lynparza) reduced the chances of cancer progression by about 42 percent in women with breast cancer linked to BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, according to the study. Olaparib delayed cancer progression by about three months. The drug also caused tumors to shrink in three out of five patients who received the medication, the researchers reported. "Clearly the drug was more effective than traditional chemotherapy," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "This is a group where a response is more difficult to obtain—a young group with a more aggressive form of cancer—and nonetheless we saw a close to 60 percent objective response rate," he said. The study was funded by AstraZeneca, the maker of Lynparza. Olaparib works by cutting off the avenues that malignant cancer cells use