study being done on herceptin with no chemo/for elderly patients

[Lani]

It has been explained to me thusly:

A clinical trial must offer a new drug or alternative drug regimen/combination PLUS the gold-standard treatment in any trial for moral reasons (and medicolegal ones)

Otherwise they would be denying the person in the experimental arm the best treatment known to help them.

If you read the trial information it requires that the person be unwilling or unable to take the chemotherapy--thus getting around that problem.

[Hopeful]

I believe it is possible to test the agent without chemotherapy when used as neoadjuvant, rather than adjuvant, therapy. This is most likely the other area where trials can be done. I also seem to remember reading there may be interest in trying to use Herceptin alone in DCIS patients.

Hopeful

[Jean]

Hopefull,
You are correct about herceptin trial with DCIS.
I remember posting something on this a while back.
I will check and try to find the research and post it.

imdavidson, thank you for calling Genentech and being so pro active for all of us!!! I have always found when we reach out to dr.'s and companies they are always so thoughtful and helpful in answering our questions.

When we reflect back the last 10 years great strides have been achieved. The last 10 years I believe we have been exposed to some of the most profound research.

Jean

[Jean]

Found this research trial being done. I know there are other trials - will continue to research.

http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/clinical-...ast-PKQnSs8ahI

[AlaskaAngel]

We each have had different experiences, and some of us have been around a little longer than others and have a somewhat different impression. For those who walked in to the oncologist's office and were offered trastuzumab with chemo at time of diagosis, it can seem like medical providers are miracle workers.

But for those HER2's who were a year out from completion of chemotherapy without any trastuzumab, listening to the ASCO announcement of the success of the trastuzumab trials was far less than impressive. The silence of the oncologists in our behalf was deafening. A week went by, and then a month... and then more months... and they made no recommendation at all for us. The only thing we had to hear over and over was the radio and TV news telling us how "all HER2 patients were being treated with trastuzumab". We were given no answers by any medical providers about what those patients who had completed chemo without it should do.

As anyone who was here then will remember, that meant that the vast majority of HER2 positives that were known at that time were left high and dry with no explanation from anyone. Eventually a very few scattered oncs here and there tried to say something supportive to us, but had no answer to give us. I can't respect that failure by medical providers to be honest with us and then to get down to it and DO THE HOMEWORK in our behalf.

So here we are, almost a decade later, still not having clear answers as to whether trastuzumab alone has value or not, because of a decades old practice of being forced to continue to use the "gold standard" drugs that are not targeted drugs but applied randomly.

I support these women (and the researchers involved in it) for stepping out in front and having what it takes to do treatment without chemo with no more garantee than any one of us gets by doing chemo combo treatments.

AlaskaAngel