National Cancer Institute (NCI) Reports Significant Clinical Findings for Treatment of Breast Cancer: Trastuzumab Combined with Chemotherapy Improves Disease-Free Survival

Monday, April 25, 2005

What:
Results from two large randomized clinical trials for patients with HER-2 positive early-stage invasive breast cancer show that patients who received trastuzumab (Herceptin®) in combination with chemotherapy had a significant decrease in risk for breast cancer recurrence compared with patients who received the same chemotherapy without trastuzumab.

"These findings are dramatic," says Mayo Clinic medical oncologist Edith A. Perez, M.D., who chaired the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) trial. "These data confirm that we now have a very potent weapon against the recurrence of cancer cells that overexpress HER-2, which tend to grow fast and are generally more likely to recur."

The NCI news release is available at http://www.nci.nih.gov/newscenter/ .

Who:
Edith Perez, M.D., a Mayo Clinic medical oncologist who chaired the NCCTG trial N9831 will be available for interview.

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