Herceptin Improves Early Survival For Women With Breast Cancer

Giving women with a certain type of breast cancer Herceptin for one year following standard
chemotherapy may improve their survival, according to an Article in this week’s issue of
The Lancet.


Around 15 - 25% of women with early breast cancer have a type called HER2-receptor positive
disease. Herceptin has been shown to reduce the risk of disease recurrence in women with
HER2-positive early breast cancer. In the Herceptin Adjuvant (HERA) study, Ian Smith (Royal
Marsden Hospital, London, UK) and colleagues assessed the effect of the drug on overall
survival after two years follow-up.


On the trial 1703 women were randomised to receive Herceptin for one year after surgery and
chemotherapy and 1698 women were assigned to the control group (observation only).
They found that more deaths occurred in the observation group than in the drug group
(90 vs59), which corresponds to a survival benefit of 2В·7% after 3 years. There were more
serious side effects in the Herceptin group than in the observation group.


Dr Smith concludes: "Our results indicate that trastuzumab [Herceptin] shows a significant
overall survival benefit in early breast cancer over observation alone after chemotherapy. . .
The survival benefit that has emerged over such a short period emphasises the potential of
this approach and underlines the importance of developing further specific targeted therapies
in breast and other cancers."


lancet


View drug information on Herceptin.