New Treating Standard for early stage?

[CLTann]

I read in some recent postings that Herceptin monotherapy and Arimidex will probably be the standard treatment for early stage BC patient, without the chemo. At present, chemo is always a co-therapy with Herceptin. In fact, my onc and another consulting onc both refused to administer Herceptin to me, citing the absence of FDA approval and lack of supporting trial data, if I wanted it to be monotherapy. Will anyone be able to cite any written documentation for me to provide my onc the supporting data? I really appreciate your help.

[Lolly]

Ann, here's a link to published results from New Zealand's participation in the HERA study, on adjuvant Herceptin in early stage...may not be enough to convince your onc, but it's a start. If you scroll to the bottom of the article, there are contact phone numbers. Hope this helps.

http://www.roche.co.nz/attachments/news_23.pdf

<3 Lolly

[CLTann]

Lolly,

I can't open your link, even after re-download acrobat.

[janet/FL]

Ann
The link opened easily for me.

[Lolly]

Ann, I couldn't seem to copy and paste the pdf to Word in order to reproduce some of the text here for you, so here's a link to another report with an excerpt...


Herceptin filed for additional indication of early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer in Japan </ST1:p
http://www.roche.com/inv-update-2006-11-30

"...Herceptin received approval for use in the European Union for advanced (metastatic) HER2-positive breast cancer in 2000 and for early HER2-positive breast cancer in 2006. In the advanced setting, Herceptin is now approved for use as a first-line therapy in combination with paclitaxel where anthracyclines are unsuitable, as first-line therapy in combination with docetaxel, and as a single agent in third-line therapy. In the early setting, Herceptin is approved for use following standard (adjuvant) chemotherapy..."


Here's the PDF link again on the off chance it will work for you this time:

New Zealand Hera Report
http://www.roche.co.nz/attachments/news_23.pdf