Interview
with Neil Love, MD from Breast Cancer Update for Medical Oncologists,
Program 5 2000
Play
Audio Below:
I
have been impressed for the last couple years by a Genentech pivotal
trial that compared chemotherapy to chemotherapy plus Herceptin.
The results of that trial – as hopefully everyone knows by
this point – is that if one is positive by fluorescence in
situ hybridization and receives the combination of chemotherapy
and Herceptin, one gets immediate improvement in survival of about
10 months. Now, we ask ourselves where in metastatic breast cancer
do we have prospective randomized trials showing a 10 month survival
advantage for the addition of a single agent to a standard chemotherapy
regimen. They are far and few between. I would view that as reasonable
evidence of at least additivity and possibly synergy between Herceptin
and chemotherapeutic agents. I find that particularly impressive
because in that trial patients were allowed to cross over to Herceptin
as a single agent. In fact, about two thirds did. The fact that
we see any survival advantage at all in a trial where two-thirds
of the patients crossed over to Herceptin, I think, is just an astonishing
result and suggests that there may be something special going on
about the combination of chemotherapy and Herceptin.
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 Current and planned clinical trials with trastuzumab (Herceptin)
[Review]. Baselga, J. Seminars in Oncology. 27(5 Suppl 9):27-32, 2000
Oct. In process
Clinical
trials of single-agent trastuzumab (Herceptin) [Review]. Seminars in Oncology. 27(5 Suppl 9):20-26, 2000 Oct. In proces
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
The
use of HER2 testing in the management of breast cancer [Review]. Ravdin, P. Seminars in Oncology. 27(5 Suppl 9):33-42, 2000 Oct.
In process
