Breast cancer drug Perjeta has reportedly given more than satisfactory benefits in extending lives of patients who suffer from the disease.

According to a report from The New York Times, patients who have taken the breast cancer drug Perjeta lived close to 16 months longer than those who did not.

Dr. Sandra Swain of the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, who is the lead author of the study conducted about the drug created by Swiss-based Roche claimed that it had outstanding effects.

"We've never seen anything like this before," said Swain. "It's really unprecedented to have this survival benefit."

"Adding Perjeta to treatment with Herceptin and chemotherapy resulted in the longest survival observed to date in a clinical study of people with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer," Swain continued. "[The survival results are] a magnitude of improvement we rarely see in clinical trials in advanced cancer."

The statement by Swain was given in front of an audience at the European Society for Medical Oncology's annual meeting on Sunday.

The drug, known generically as pertuzumab, was approved two years ago and has since been studied thoroughly by scientists with the help of 800 women participants. These patients reportedly represented 25% of all breast cancer cases.

The drug reportedly works in such a way that it clings to part of HER2, a protein that makes the growth of cancerous tumors faster, and blocks it. More effective results are reportedly expected when the drug is used alongside Herceptin, which blocks another part of the HER2 protein.

Doctors and scientists who were not part of the study also shared their delight in the effects brought by the breast cancer drug Perjeta.

In an interview with Reuters,Eric Van Cutsem of the University of Leuven shared what he thought of data presented in the study, saying: "I think these data are really compelling. When you see in breast cancer such a big change in survival with not a lot of cardio-toxicities then that is really practice-changing."

According to a Roche spokeswoman, the breast cancer drug Perjeta is available in the United States for a monthly price of $5,900, although it is reportedly offered at a lower price in Europe.