Why Herceptin and not Tykerb?

Lani · 12-17-2007, 09:16 AM

there are trials begnning with tykerb and herceptin. and the safety phase so far has shown no additional toxicity, but the trials are still new and not all side effects show themselves right away.

There is also the new chemofused to herceptin being developed by GENENTECH, Pertuzumab plus herceptin already some interim reports in metastatic her2+ bc were reported at ASCO --and the safety phase so far has shown no additional toxicity, but the trials are still new and not all side effects show themselves right away. in addition there were initial reports on herceptin plus an mTor inhibitor, an Hsp90 inhibitor and others. Lots of those posters were up on Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon poster sessions as I recall.

I would think by donating portions of their biopsy specimens patients could contribute to speeding up this process, as it is essential to see which pathways contribute in each patient to the aggressiveness of their tumor to find biomarkers to determine in which patients to test each of these combinations. If they would not have found FISH by her2 as a marker for herceptin, herceptin trials would have failed to show efficacy and the drug would not have been developed!!!

Sorry to sound like a bully on the pulpit, a nagging mother/spouse/mother-in law, but how many would like to step up to the plate or are you one would would rather wait around for something to be found, developed, tested, approved (which could be ten to twenty years)?

Lani · 12-17-2007, 09:17 AM

Sorry I did not mean YOU personally. Just those who read, post and/or lurch at this site.

StephN · 12-17-2007, 02:09 PM

Lani -
Many of us answered about donating our tumor or blood on another thread. Your question will get buried here.

We just will need a new post or forum where the mechanics of this will be discussed and a plan put in place.

I can't speak for everyone, but I feel that those who volunteered already will come through when the time comes.

gdpawel · 12-23-2007, 10:23 PM

A recent company-sponsored study showed that Tykerb's blood levels increased by 167% when taken with a low-fat meal, compared with taking the drug on an empty stomach, and by 325% after a high-fat meal.

In a recent editorial in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers ruffled some industry feathers by arguing that taking Tykerb with food (THE LABEL SAYS NOT TO) might allow patients to take lower doses, leading to a potential cost savings of 60% off the drug's $2,900-a-month price tag.

Savings could be about 80% if Tykerb were taken with grapefruit juice, since the drug interacts with an enzyme in the gut (CYP3A4) that breaks down drugs before they enter the bloodstream. People with lots of CYP3A5 may have less medicine enter their bloodstream than people who don't have so much.

Grapefruit juice has a compound that temporarily gets rid of CYP3A4, which allows more of a drug to enter the bloodstream. For people who take statins with grapefruit juice, the drug can build up to unhealthy levels in the body.

Some researchers feel that the grapefruit effect could ultimately allow patients to take lower doses of drugs like Tykerb. With oral oncology therapies being very expensive, this may lower the costs by as much as 50% saving hundreds of millions of dollars.