Herceptin combo may be effective in breast cancer

Combining capecitabine and vinorelbine with Swiss drug major Roche's Herceptin (trastuzumab) to treat women who have metastatic HER2-positive  breast cancer may offer physicians another choice in their treatment  options, according to data presented at the annual meeting of the  American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Among the patients studied, 28 (58%) had a partial response, a reduction  in the size of the metastatic tumor of more than 30% by computed  tomography. Four patients had a complete response, with no more evidence  of metastasized tumors on diagnostic scans. The regimen also avoids the  common chemotherapy side-effect of hair loss.

"The results are encouraging, and would support a larger, randomized  Phase III study," lead author Winston Tan said. "This is a Phase II  study of this triple combination, so we would need to study this  treatment against the standard best two-drug treatment in a randomized  Phase III study to know if this triplet is more effective," he  added.