"An experimental cancer drug that Novartis hopes will raise the profile of its oncology portfolio cut the risk of death or disease progression by more than a third in breast cancer patients with a hardtotarget gene mutation.  FILE PHOTO Swiss drugmaker Novartis logo is seen at the companys plant in the northern Swiss town of Stein Switzerland October  . REUTERSArnd WiegmannFile Photo The Swiss drugmakers BYL a socalled PIK inhibitor also known as alpelisib combined with hormone therapy fulvestrant boosted median progressionfree survival PFS to  months up from . months for patients who got only hormone therapy the company said on Saturday.  BYL plus fulvestrant cut risk of death or progression in those patients by an estimated  percent Novartis said.  Novartis said earlier this year that this study called SOLAR of hormone receptor positive HER breast cancer with mutations of the PIKCA gene showed that YL helped patients.  But this specific benefit data is being released on Saturday at the European Society for Medical Oncologys annual conference in Munich.  Even though PIKCA mutations are the most common genetic change in hormonereceptor positive breast cancer trials of agents seeking to put a brake on this pathway to tumor growth have largely disappointed including on safety issues.  Other drugmakers including Roche have seen similar investigational medicines stumble making Novartiss progress here hopeful news doctors involved in the trial said.   The results of SOLAR are the most encouraging observed to date from a trial evaluating a PIK inhibitor for patients with this kind of breast cancer said Fabrice Andre a professor at Frances Institut Gustave Roussy.  These data have the potential to allow physicians to address an unmet need in this patient population by using a biomarkerdriven treatment to inform their sequencing decisions Andre added.  Like other companies Novartis is seeking to personalize treatment for cancer patients by using biomarkers like those showing PIKCA gene mutations to help guide treatment.  TALKS WITH REGULATORS  This week Novartis signed a deal to have Roche unit Foundation Medicine provide genomic profiling of patient samples taken from Novartis clinical oncology trials. Other cancer drugmakers like BristolMyers Squibb and Merck also have Foundation deals.  Samit Hirawat head of Novartiss cancer drug development said in an interview the sideeffects profile of alpelisib held up.  We dont see as much diarrhea we do not have CNS central nervous system side effects we do not have the liver effects he said.  Novartis plans to file with regulators for approval of the drug this year Hirawat said adding he also has strategies to broaden the indication including toughtotreat triplenegative breast cancer.  PIKCA mutations are present in many other tumor types Hirawat said. There is a larger program we are putting into place."