Becky (& others back from SABCS) have you got more info related to what is said in this extract of the article at
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=7595
Herceptin/Avastin Study Results Revealed
Also presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium were results of a promising Phase II study that combined two molecularly targeted therapies to treat advanced breast cancer without using conventional chemotherapy.
The study, done at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and in an affiliated network of oncology offices, tested Herceptin with the angiogenesis inhibitor Avastin, which cuts off the independent blood supply that a tumor creates to help it grow and spread.
The study enrolled 37 women with breast cancer that had spread to other organs, the hardest type of breast cancer to treat effectively. Results indicate that 83.8 percent showed a clinical response, Slamon said, meaning their tumors completely disappeared, shrunk in size by more than 50 percent, or remained stable and did not progress.
"This represents the next generation of studies we're trying to develop at UCLA, which take chemotherapy completely out of the picture," Slamon said. "This is the first study that takes us in that direction and we think we may be ready to try this in the adjuvant setting. These responses are as good as anything we've seen in this group of patients, even with our best chemotherapies."