The phase II study results of the NeoSphere neoadjuvant trial has shown that the combination of Trastuzumab ( Herceptin ) and Pertuzumab ( Omnitarg ) had superior antitumor activity in women with early HER2-positive breast cancer.

Details of these study results were presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The addition of Pertuzumab to Trastuzumab and the chemotherapy drug, Docetaxel ( Taxotere ), has an impressive rate of tumor eradication ( 46% ), which is 50 percent more than achieved with Docetaxel and Trastuzumab, the standard therapy.

In addition, the combination of Pertuzumab and Trastuzumab without chemotherapy is capable of eradicating the tumor in a remarkable fraction of cases ( 17% ) without any of the toxicities commonly seen with chemotherapy.

NeoSphere is a randomized trial that tested the efficacy of the new HER2-directed monoclonal antibody Pertuzumab in combination with Trastuzumab with or without chemotherapy. The trial included 417 women; all participants received four cycles of therapy before they underwent surgery, or as neoadjuvant therapy.

Source: American Association for Cancer Research, 2010

XagenaMedicine2010


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