Interview
with Neil Love, MD from Breast Cancer Update for Medical Oncologists,
Program 3 2000
Play
Audio Below:
We
clearly have a role for Herceptin as a single agent based on not
only the small phase II trial from MSKCC and the UCSF but the large
multinational, multicenter trial showing single agent activity after
prior chemotherapy, and particularly it’s worth noting that
25% of those patients have progressed following high-dose chemotherapy,
so in a particularly refractory group of patients, single agent
activity of Herceptin is quite remarkable. The pivotal trial data
clearly support the role for combination Taxol-Herceptin as first-line
therapy where a survival advantage of five months was noted, and
we don’t have all that many examples in randomized, prospective
trials in metastatic disease where treatment A offers this kind
of survival benefit over treatment B. So presently monotherapy,
combination therapy with Taxol for the moment, I think we should
exercise great caution in combining Herceptin with anthracyclines.
I haven’t done it yet and I’m not sure we should be doing
it until there’s been further study.
Relevant
Articles:
Biological
rationale for HER2/neu (c-erbB2) as a target for monoclonal antibody
therapy [Review]. Pegram, M. and Slamon, D Seminars in Oncology.
27(5 Suppl 9):13-19, 2000 Oct. In process
