Adjuvant trastuzumab for breast cancer

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7524.1035

BMJ 2005;331:1035-1036 (5 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7524.1035

Editorial

Adjuvant trastuzumab for breast cancer

We need to ensure that equity exists for access to effectiveand expensive treatments

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In an era when encouraging headlines for the treatment of cancerseem to come and go, the results of randomised trials of adjuvanttrastuzumab for treating breast cancers that overexpress humanepidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) have been rightlyviewed as "stunning."¹ The implications are relevant not onlyto patients with respect to significantly reducing the riskof cancer recurrence and death but also to all involved in thedelivery of health care. We need to ensure that the processfor funding of these highly effective treatments remains equitablenot only between patients with different types of cancer butalso between patients in different countries.

HER2 normally helps in the regulation of cell proliferation.Amplification of the HER2/neu oncogene occurs in 25-30% of humanprimary breast cancers and portends a poorer prognosis.² Trastuzumabis a recombinant humanised monoclonal antibody directed againstHER2. The success of trastuzumab is an . . . [Full text of this article]

Rebecca Dent, medical oncology fellow

Division of Medical Oncology, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto ON, Canada M4N 3M5

Mark Clemons, medical oncologist

(mark.clemons@sw.ca)
Division of Medical Oncology, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto ON, Canada M4N 3M5

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