[Sandra in GA]

Hi Candy,
I have actualy been involved in two trials. The first was a stage II trial involving adding lapatinib (Tykerb) to my Herceptin. The second was the EA 37 vaccine trial. Special permission had to be granted from Mayo for me to participate in the second.

Having said that, yes, HER2+ breast cancer is very aggressive and in the past had a very poor prognosis. With Herceptin and now other targeted antibodies and vaccines, people are living disease free much longer. The reason you cannot find data on this is those of us involved in trials and new treatments are making the statistics day by day. This information will not be availiable for several more years as data is collected.

Before I began my first trial I did read where trial participants fare better than those not in trials. The reasoning behind this was that these patients are followed more closely and therefore recieve treatment for recurrances in earlier stages. There are no guarantees but phase I trials establish if an agent actually works. Stage II trials are usually designed to determine safety and dosage. Stage III trials compare the effectiveness of the new treatment against standard treatment.

Everyone has to make their own decisions. However, I do advise you to ask many questions and read as much as you can before making that possible life extending decision.

Hugs,
Sandra