How much benefit does Herceptin give?
A major study, including 5,000 women around the world with early stage breast cancer, showed a year’s course of the drug could reduce the risk of the disease returning. After three years, 80.6% of women who had received Herceptin as well as surgery and chemotherapy or radiotherapy were disease-free, compared to 74% of women who had not been given the drug. Who should be given the drug? Around 41,000 women are diagnosed in the UK each year with breast cancer, most with early-stage disease. But only around a fifth of breast cancers are HER2 positive. And around 10% of women with HER2 positive cancers will have some form of heart problem which means they should not take Herceptin, because there have been indications in research that it can worsen such conditions. These include: • Very poor ventricular function – which can be a sign of heart failure • Heart failure • Heart rhythm disorders (uncontrolled arrhythmias) • Severe chest pain (angina pectoris) which requires medication • A heart
