Results from two clinical trials show that patients with early-stage breast cancer who received trastuzumab (Herceptin) in combination with chemotherapy had a 52 percent decrease in risk for breast cancer recurrence, compared with patients who received the same chemotherapy without the drug. The difference is statistically highly significant.
Dr. Edward Romond, associate professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and UK Markey Cancer Center, acts as principal investigator on the study and the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) study chair.
"For women with this type of aggressive breast cancer, the addition of trastuzumab to chemotherapy appears to virtually reverse prognosis from unfavorable to good. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the women whose participation in these trials has made it possible to show the substantial benefit of combining trastuzumab with chemotherapy for adjuvant treatment of women with HER-2 positive breast cancer," said Romond.
The clinical trials were sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and conducted by a network of researchers led by NSABP and the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG), in collaboration with the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, and the Southwest Oncology Group. Genentech Inc., which manufactures trastuzumab as Herceptin, provided the drug for the trials under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with NCI.