does herceptin work?

i'm trying to get my doctors to give me herceptin for stage IIIa localized breast cancer, her-2+ postive, ER positive, but i cannot get it unless i get on clinical trial for which i do not qualify. should i be pushing for chemo treatment with the herceptin. Is it working for anyone?
i know that some people do not respond to herceptin. I had lumpectomy 11/5 and am
still conrfused about which chemo treatment to get and i'm really worried about waiting much longer. I was offered dose dense EC with taxol as my treatment without herceptin.
Don't know what to do. I feel that the clock is ticking.

[anne]

Hello,

I saw your dx and went through the similiar dx with my mom except for being IIb. My husband and I consulted 3 diff. oncologists and their consensus was to get the most aggresive treatment that you can in early stage BC. That means Adriamycin or Epirubicin, Cytoxan, Taxol or Taxotere on a dose dense schedule if you can handle it. And the benefits of Herceptin now is the only question. I could not find any statistics to share with you. But my opinion is that it might cut down the rate of recurrence by another 30-50%. No one knows for sure yet and believe me I have been looking for results on these trials for the past year. If anyone knows for sure, I would be trilled to know. Regardless, you are lucky in the sense that you have an ER+ tumor and can have Arimidex for 5 years afterward. Please ask your doctor to reconsider Herceptin. I have read some people even got their insurance to pay for it. All the best and try to find another doctor if you disagree with your current one.
XOXO
Anne

thanks, anne. i am trying to find another dr. here in new york who will consider giving me
the herceptin without a trial. it's been very frustrating fighting with these bureaucratic institutions.

[Rozebud]

We don't know what the results will be for early stage bc with herceptin b/c the trials aren't over yet, but MD Anderson based on nothing but preliminary results given in a neoadjuvent setting, is giving herceptin to ALL early stage bc's who are her2+. This is because they had such dramatic results with it. As they are one of the top places to go, I think that's very notable. Perhaps share this with your onc:

http://www.news-medical.net/view_article.asp?id=2246

Herceptin works for alot of people. See if you can get on it with a good chemo regimin because you have advanced breast cancer. You need all the ammunition you can get.

[michele u]

Eileen,
Why didn't you qualify for the herceptin trials? The only requirement I thought was to be her2 pos?

herceptin is only given on trials for local breast cancer and i don't qualify for the trial because i took taxol 7 years ago for ovarian cancer and that disqualified me.
i'm very upset about this because there's a chance the herceptin will help me. my doctor
told me that another trial with herceptin will be coming up in january which i would
qualify for but i really don't want to wait that long to get treatment. i'm freaking out
over this situation.

eileen,

Please look into Sloane-Kettering in NYC. There is also a Her-2 vaccine trial in Winber, PA for people who don't get Herceptin. Look up on Google: HER 2 vaccine trials, there are lots of places that will give it to you.

I am getting weekly herceptin off label. I am stage IIa. I didn't qualify for a trial becuase I've had chemo before. I have a great onc. and he wanted to use it. I didn't have any problem with insurance coverage, but Minnesota is good for insurance. The question for me is how long to keep doing it! I did the usual AC+taxol dose dense before the herceptin. Hope this info is helpful.