[Becky]

I will write about the presentations that I believe are the most note worthy and I will continue to repost if I run out of room.

TanDem Trial

This study showed that women in a metastatic setting that were Her2+ and hormone positive who got Arimidex and Herceptin had better response and slower time to progression (2 years) versus women given Arimidex alone. The positive about this trial is that this was a first line therapy so women can have a good quality of life for quite some time before chemotherapy is started. The negative about this trial is when the trial concluded the women on the Arimidex only arm were allowed to crossover but the crossover results were not published. Therefore, could Arimidex be started and when the women progress, add Herceptin, and get an even longer time to progression (for quality of life purposes) before chemotherapy is started.

Effects Trial - in metastatic disease

This is a double blind study between Aromosin and Faslodex. Double blind means that a woman who was assigned to the Aromosin arm wouldn't know it and would get an Aromosin pill and a placebo shot (and if on the Faslodex arm she would get a Faslodex shot and an placebo pill) and even their doctors wouldn't know what they were getting. The jist of this trial is that hormone positive women who progressed on Arimidex (a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor) were randomized to either Aromosin (a steroidal aromostase inhibitor) or Faslodex (a "super" Tamoxifen - its action is to degrade the estrogen receptor). The results of this arm were identical in time to progression. Both products work in keeping the cancer under control well after failure on Arimidex. This is not what Astra Zeneca (they sponsored this trial and manufacture Arimidex and Faslodex) wanted but proves that one can stay on another oral drug and get results vs having to go to the onc and get shots.

Role of Abraxane vs Taxotere - randomized phase 2 trial - in metastatic disease

This study was done because of previous studies that show that Abraxane (taxol that is solubilized differently into a nanoparticle) works better than plan old Taxol. Taxotere works slightly better than Taxol so does Abraxane work better than taxotere? Women were randomized to the normal clinical dose of Taxotere every 3 weeks or the equivalent normal dose of Abraxane every 3 weeks or a low dose of Abraxane every week. The every week dose of Abraxane worked superiorly better but another trial must be done because this trial didn't have an endpoint (which is usually time to progression).