Herceptin Approved for Non-Metastatic Breast Cancer
Friday November 17, 2006
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration has just approved the use of Herceptin for treatment of HER-2 positive non-metastatic breast cancer. Herceptin is already used as part of the treatment plan for metastatic disease, when a diagnosis is HER-2 positive. Herceptin can cause heart failure in some cases. But the benefits of thie drug are expected to yield greater survival rates for patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer, whether or nor it is well-contained, or has spread.
Image of the HER2 Molecule is courtesy of RCSB Protein Data Bank.
PDB ID: 1N8Z, Cho, H.-S., Mason, K., Ramyar, K.X., Stanley, A.M., Gabelli, S.B., Denney Jr., D.W., Leahy, D.J., Structure of the Extracellular Region of HER2 Alone and in Complex with the Herceptin Fab, Nature v421 pp.756-760 , 2003
Comments
My wife was diagnosed 7 years ago. Her doctor insisted she receive Herceptin immediately because she was Her2 positive although no visible signs of
metastises. She is now undergoing treatment after 5 years of “cancer free” living for metastic breast cancer and although it is not exactly a success story there is no doubt in my mind that Herceptin has been the lead defense in her battle since day one.