Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: breast cancer + cancer + breast  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/7/2008)

Ottawa Citizen Susan G. Komen for the Cure(R) Comments on Christina Applegate's ... MarketWatch - As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, she has been active in encouraging people to remain vigilant about breast cancer screening. ... AssociatedPress Breast cancer rare but possible in young women phillyBurbs.com Christina Applegate fighting breast cancer RTE.ie Bild.de - WebMD all 1,012 news articles » ATP Prepares for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month as ... PR Web (press release), WA - As part of the leading manufacturer of flash and DRAM memory's commitment to support Susan G. Komen for the Cure's global breast cancer movement, ... Study Suggests Bone Mineral Density May Indicate Breast Cancer Risk DOTmed.com (press release), NY - According to the study, incorporating bone mineral density tests with other risk assessments could improve the ability to predict breast cancer in older ... Los Angeles Times Sex After Breast Cancer U.S. News & World Report, DC - Aug 5, 2008 Yesterday I discussed Christina Applegate's diagnosis of breast cancer, and hundreds of reports on that news have been teeming with information?from the way ... Breast cancer diagnosis ... and the outcome Los Angeles Times Five Breast Cancer Myths FOXNews Breast cancer: What you need to know Food Consumer Gather.com - United Press International all 6 news articles » Clarient and Health Discovery Corporation Announce Results from ... Business Wire (press release), CA - In the United States alone, there are over 1 million prostate cancer tissue biopsy procedures performed annually. Approximately 25% of these tissue biopsies ... Clarient Reports Second Quarter Revenue Up 71% Trading Markets (press release) all 21 news articles »  CLRT - OTC:HDVY Chemokine Therapeutics Announces Breast Cancer Data Presented at a ... MarketWatch - The data demonstrated in pre-clinical models that CTCE-9908 decreased the spread of breast cancer to the ovary by about half, decreased the size of tumors ...TSE:CTI - OTC:CMTX Pooling breast cancer datasets has a synergetic effect on ... 7thSpace Interactive (press release), NY - On a higher level, breast cancer datasets collected by different institutions can be considered as resamplings from the underlying breast cancer population. ... CTV.ca Health Buzz: Prostate Cancer Screening and Other Health News U.S. News & World Report, DC - Aug 5, 2008 Christina Applegate's breast cancer was detected, according to her publicist, using an MRI ordered by the 36-year-old's doctor. ... Perceived Medical Discrimination May Discourage Cancer Screening MedPage Today Cancer hits men's minds Macarthur Advertiser Routine prostate screens 'premature' The Age So Md News - Financial Times all 769 news articles » 3 News NZ Pharmac decides not to fund year-long Herceptin course New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - File photo / Glenn Jeffrey Government drug-buying agency Pharmac announced today it would not fund 12-month courses of the breast cancer drug Herceptin. ... A thorn in Pharmac's side Stuff.co.nz Herceptin decision due out TVNZ PHARMAC reaffirms confidence in 9 week Herceptin treatment Scoop.co.nz (press release) New Zealand Doctor Online - Stuff.co.nz all 38 news articles » deCODE genetics Announces Second Quarter 2008 Financial Results MarketWatch - Diagnostics: Breast cancer. In the second quarter deCODE discovered a fourth set of common single-letter variants (SNPs) associated with risk of estrogen ...DCGN

EU: Herceptin for early-stage in HER2-positive breast cancer approved

The European Commission has approved Herceptin ( Trastuzumab ) for patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer following surgery and standard chemotherapy.

The approval is based on impressive results from the international HERA ( HERceptin Adjuvant ) study which showed Herceptin following standard chemotherapy significantly reduces the risk of cancer coming back by 46% compared to chemotherapy alone.
Similarly remarkable benefits have also been seen in three other major global and US studies.

Herceptin was previously approved in the EU for the treatment of metastatic ( advanced ) HER2-positive breast cancer, so this new approval allows women with all stages of this aggressive disease, including early-stage breast cancer, to access this life-extending treatment option.

(FDA) on February 15th, 2006. The application is based on data from the combined interim analysis of two large US trials,4 and Genentech has received a priority review designation.
HERA is one of the largest adjuvant studies ever carried out among breast cancer patients; enrolment to the trial began in December 2001, and nearly 5,100 HER2-positive patients were enrolled at 480 sites in 39 countries across the world.
HERA is a randomised trial, which, following standard adjuvant systemic chemotherapy and radiotherapy ( if applicable ), evaluates observation versus Herceptin every three weeks for 12 months or 24 months in women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.
The HERA study allowed for the use of a wide range of chemotherapy regimens, and both lymph node-positive and lymph node-negative patients were eligible for entry into the trial.

According to the interim analysis, the primary efficacy endpoint was met, showing that in the 12-month arm, patients who received Herceptin had a statistically significant improvement in disease-free survival.
At a median follow-up of one year, the secondary endpoint of overall survival had not reached statistical significance, but showed a clear trend towards an improvement in overall survival.

The interim analysis compared Herceptin versus observation and did not include a comparison of 12 months versus 24 months treatment duration. The trial will continue to assess this comparison and data will become available in due time as the study matures.

The HERA study has an external Independent Data Monitoring Committee ( IDMC ) that regularly reviews safety data. No safety concerns were raised by the IDMC, and the incidence of congestive heart failure was very low ( 0.5% in the Herceptin arms vs. 0% in the observation arm ).
Patients in this study will continue to be followed for any side effects.

In HER2-positive breast cancer, increased quantities of the HER2 protein are present on the surface of the tumour cells. This is known as ‘HER2 positivity.’ High levels of HER2 are present in a particularly aggressive form of the disease which responds poorly to chemotherapy.
Research shows that HER2-positivity affects approximately 20-30% of women with breast cancer.

Herceptin is a humanised antibody, designed to target and block the function of HER2, a protein produced by a specific gene with cancer-causing potential. In addition to its efficacy in the early-stage breast cancer setting,
Herceptin also has demonstrated improved survival in the advanced ( metastatic ) setting, where its addition to chemotherapy allows patients to live up to one-third longer than chemotherapy alone.

Source: Roche, 2006