Final Trial results: lapatinib + herceptin improve overall survival meaningfully in

[Lani]

heavily pretreated Stage IVs

hope this helps some of you whose government health systems (or their bean counters) have been hesitant to allow this combination

J Clin Oncol. 2012 Jun 11. [Epub ahead of print]

Overall Survival Benefit With Lapatinib in Combination With Trastuzumab for Patients With Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer: Final Results From the EGF104900 Study.
Blackwell KL, Burstein HJ, Storniolo AM, Rugo HS, Sledge G, Aktan G, Ellis C, Florance A, Vukelja S, Bischoff J, Baselga J, O'Shaughnessy J.
Source
Kimberly L. Blackwell, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; Harold J. Burstein, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; José Baselga, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; Anna Maria Storniolo and George Sledge, Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN; Hope S. Rugo, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Gursel Aktan, Catherine Ellis, and Allison Florance, GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, PA; Svetislava Vukelja, Texas Oncology, US Oncology, Tyler; Joyce O'Shaughnessy, Baylor Sammons Cancer Center, Texas Oncology, US Oncology, Dallas, TX; and Joachim Bischoff, Otto von Guericke Univeristäte, Madgeburg, Germany.
Abstract
PURPOSEPhase III EGF104900 data demonstrated that lapatinib plus trastuzumab significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and clinical benefit rate versus lapatinib monotherapy, offering a chemotherapy-free option for patients with heavily pretreated human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Final planned overall survival (OS) analysis from EGF104900 is reported here. PATIENTS AND METHODSPatients with HER2-positive MBC whose disease progressed during prior trastuzumab-based therapies were randomly assigned to receive lapatinib monotherapy or lapatinib in combination with trastuzumab. OS and updated PFS data are presented using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests stratified for hormone receptor and visceral disease status. Subgroup analyses were conducted to identify characteristics of patients deriving the greatest clinical benefit.ResultsIn this updated final analysis of all patients randomly assigned with strata (n = 291), lapatinib plus trastuzumab continued to show superiority to lapatinib monotherapy in PFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.74; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.94; P = .011) and offered significant OS benefit (HR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.57 to 0.97; P = .026). Improvements in absolute OS rates were 10% at 6 months and 15% at 12 months in the combination arm compared with the monotherapy arm. Multiple baseline factors, including Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0, nonvisceral disease, < three metastatic sites, and less time from initial diagnosis until random assignment, were associated with improved OS. Incidence of adverse events was consistent with previously reported rates. CONCLUSIONThese data demonstrated a significant 4.5-month median OS advantage with the lapatinib and trastuzumab combination and support dual HER2 blockade in patients with heavily pretreated HER2-positive MBC.
PMID: 22689807