Phase III study of Herceptin for breast cancer.

The addition of a second chemotherapy drug to a regimen of breast cancer drug Herceptin and chemotherapy nearly doubles the time it takes for the disease to worsen.

The Phase III study, the preliminary results of which were presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, included 194 advanced breast cancer patients found to express the protein targeted by the drug.

The study compared use of the standard combination of Herceptin and paclitaxel, to treatment with the standard combination plus carboplatin, which is commonly used to treat other forms of cancer, including lung and ovarian cancers.

Results show that the addition of carboplatin to Herceptin and paclitaxel resulted in a six-month improvement in the time it took for the disease to progress, compared to the standard Herceptin and paclitaxel regimen.

‘This is important because patients with HER2-positive breast cancer have an aggressive form of the disease that is associated with more rapid cancer progression and shortened survival,’ Dr. Gwen Fyfe, Genentech’s (US manufacturer of Herceptin) Vice President of oncology, medical affairs, said in a statement.

The study found median survival in the Herceptin and paclitaxel arm was 33.5 months, while the group receiving the tripartite therapy had yet to reach that point after 36 months of follow-up.

Researchers reported that the patients receiving the three-drug regimen were more likely to see a drop in white blood cell counts and blood platelets than the group receiving Herceptin and paclitaxel.

There was one case of cardiac dysfunction in the Herceptin/paclitaxel arm, Genentech said.

(Source: ASCO)

For more information on Herceptin, go to the Pharmacy section of Virtual Cancer Centre.