Herceptin and Chemotherapy - Treatment for Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients

Herceptin, the cancer drug for late-stage breast cancer patients, is also effective for women with early-stage of breast cancer. But it is said that the drug will cause heart damage. However, researchers has also found the way to reduce the risk, that is by chemotherapy regimen.

A study conducted by the Breast Cancer International Research Group, early results of which were announced in September, found that Herceptin plus standard chemotherapy reduced the risk of disease recurrence in early breast cancer by 51 percent.

"The chemotherapy combinations we tested with Herceptin proved to be superior to the best available standard therapy for early breast cancer," Dr. Dennis Slamon, the study's principal investigator and director of clinical/translational research at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center, said in a statement.

Herceptin was approved for advanced or late-stage breast cancer treatment in 1998. It is an antibody-based drug to target tumor cells and spare normal cells.

The finding of this new treatment method for early-stage breast cancer will drastically lower the cost of current pricey treatment.

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