The news reported here reflects a growing understanding of the ways in which Herceptin (chemical name: trastuzumab) can be used to treat women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer. In this case, drug regulators in Europe approved the use of Herceptin in combination with hormonal therapy to treat hormone-receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
Advanced breast cancers that are hormone-receptor-positive can be treated with a variety of hormonal therapy medicines. Advanced HER2-positive breast cancers are commonly treated with the targeted therapy Herceptin. Herceptin only works against breast cancers that have extra HER2 genes or make too many HER2 protein receptors.
While the approval of this combination treatment approach happened in Europe, it is possible that similar approval will happen in the United States and elsewhere. Doctors may also choose to use a proven treatment approach like this even when there hasn’t been official approval to do so. If you are post-menopausal and have advanced (metastatic) breast cancer that is both HER2-positive and hormone-receptor-positive, you may want to talk to your doctor about whether treatment with the combination of hormonal therapy and Herceptin is right for you.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Herceptin has been approved in Europe for the treatment of advanced breast cancer in combination with hormonal therapy, Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG announced Thursday.
Herceptin was approved for the treatment of postmenopausal patients with HER2 and hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer, Roche said in a statement.
Herceptin, given by injection, is an antibody-based drug designed to target tumour cells and spare normal cells, unlike chemotherapy, which is toxic throughout the body.
The approval is based on data from an international late stage clinical trial, which showed the addition of Herceptin to hormonal therapy doubled the median progression-free survival time.
Herceptin is already approved in Europe for the treatment of early and metastatic, or advanced, HER2-positive breast cancer.
The new approval means its use can be extended, in combination with hormonal therapy for advanced breast cancer.
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