Adding pertuzumab to trastuzumab and docetaxel for treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer was more effective than adding a placebo to trastuzumab plus chemotherapy, according to Dr. Sandra M. Swain and her associates.
The median overall survival rate for the pertuzumab combination group was 56.5 months, while median survival time in the placebo group was 40.8 months. Median progression-free survival increased by 6.3 months, and the median duration of response was increased by 7.7 months. No significant difference in adverse events was found between the two groups.
While the results were promising, most of the deaths in the study were from breast cancer, indicating that better treatments are still needed. It is also “not clear whether hormonal therapy plus pertuzumab and trastuzumab is more effective than hormonal therapy plus trastuzumab alone in patients,” the investigators said.
Find the full study in the New England Journal of Medicine 2015;372:724-34 ( doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1413513 ).
