BETTER TO USE HERCEPTIN WITH CHEMOTHERAPY

Herceptin during chemotherapy may boost survival in some patients with breast cancer.

HealthDay (12/12, Dotinga) reported, "New research suggests that certain breast cancer patients who take the drug Herceptin [trastuzumab] during chemotherapy, instead of taking it afterward, fare better." In a study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, researchers examined "outcomes for hundreds of women who underwent different treatment regimens" for "HER2-positive breast cancer."

MedPage Today (12/13, Phend) reported that patients "had 25 percent better disease-free survival rates at five years when trastuzumab was started concurrently with chemotherapy, rather than sequentially." But, "the trial was complicated by temporary closure of the concurrent trastuzumab arm early in the study for analysis of potentially adverse cardiac events."

But, because the study showed that "the five-year survival rate increased to 84 percent among women taking the drugs concurrently versus 80 percent among those taking the drugs sequentially," the researchers concluded that "concurrent use is the best way" to "decrease the risk of cancer recurrence," the Los Angeles Times (12/12, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog reported.

Anthracyclines with Herceptin may be linked to heart damage in HER2-positive breast cancer patients. The Wall Street Journal (12/14, A5, Wang, subscription required) reports that, according to findings reported at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, anthracyclines, a class of chemotherapy drugs, may be linked to heart damage when used in combination with Roche Holding AG's Herceptin [trastuzumab] in women with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Bloomberg News (12/13, Waters) reported that although the study showed that "women who got anthracyclines and Herceptin were less likely to have recurrences of their cancer and to die," researchers also found that two percent of patients receiving the combination treatment "developed heart failure, 0.7 percent died of leukemia, and 19 percent had changes in their heart function that might lead to heart failure in the future." Meanwhile, "among those who got Herceptin without anthracyclines, 0.4 percent developed heart failure and nine percent had worsened heart function."

The researchers concluded that "eliminating the anthracycline from chemotherapy when using trastuzumab (Herceptin) may be just as effective long term," MedPage Today (12/12, Phend). They noted that "a nonanthracycline based regimen with trastuzumab was not associated with significantly more breast cancer recurrences or deaths." Furthermore, no "group of HER2-positive patients, high risk or otherwise...benefitted more from the anthracycline-based regimen."

Herceptin plus Tykerb may improve survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. The AP (12/12) reported that "a combination of two drugs that more precisely target tumors significantly extended the lives of women who had stopped responding to other treatments," according to research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The study of 300 patients showed that women receiving Herceptin [trastuzumab] and Tykerb [lapatinib] "lived 20 weeks longer than those given Tykerb alone."

Researchers found that "Tykerb inhibits HER2 and the receptor, while Herceptin binds to the HER2 protein," resulting in "significant improvement in overall survival," HealthDay (12/11, Doheny) reported. In fact, "there was a 26 percent reduction in the risk of death if both agents were used."

On average, participants receiving the combination treatment lived "about 14 months vs. 9.5 months for those who got Tykerb alone," WebMD (12/11, Laino) reported. Furthermore, "adding Tykerb to Herceptin did not worsen the side effects."

Combined Herceptin, DM1 treatment may shrink tumors in some breast cancer patients. The UK's Telegraph (12/13, Donnelly) reported, "A new breast cancer drug has been shown to shrink tumors in women for whom all other treatments have failed." According to research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the drug, "a combination of Herceptin with a type of chemotherapy called DM1," reduced tumors in "forty percent of women with an aggressive and advanced form of breast cancer." The study included 110 women with HER2-positive breast cancer who "had already undergone seven types of different drug treatments."

Bloomberg News (12/13, Waters) reported, "The therapy combines Roche's Herceptin with a potent cancer-killing drug developed by Immunogen. Herceptin acts as a guidance system, using its ability to home in on cancer cells to deliver the cancer treatment directly to its target."