Herceptin is a breast cancer drug which is approved for treatment to breast cancer patients with Her-2/neu positive gene, more than 25% of women with breast cancer produce this Her-2 protein in their blood which makes their breast cancer very aggressive and resist chemotherapy and Tamoxifen therapy (anti-estrogen therapies). The Drug Herceptin is a humanized monoclonal antibody prepared for treating Her-2 positive patients but the drug is very costly and the Herceptin treatment is to be given for 1 year.
Herceptin is approved for late stage breast cancer treatment but a new study conducted by Breast Cancer International Research Group (BCIRG) have found that Herceptin is also very effective in treating early stage breast cancer disapproving early reports that the drug Herceptin is not effective in treating early stage breast cancer reported by The Lancet on November 10th.Professor Dennis Slamon and his colleagues, University of California, Los Angeles, conducted a BCIRG trial and found that Herceptin supplemented with Chemotherapy in early stage breast cancer patients to Her-2/neu positive patients found better prognosis compared to chemotherapy treatment alone. The results of the trial had shown the benefits of Herceptin drug also in the treatment of early stage breast cancer.
