Breakthrough's Comment On Research On Lapatinib Presented At The European Breast Cancer Conference

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Conferences;  Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 22 Apr 2008 - 4:00 PST

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Early research presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference suggests that treatment with lapatinib prior to surgery may be beneficial for some patients with advanced HER2 positive breast cancer.

Dr Alexis Willett, Policy Manager at Breakthrough Breast Cancer says:

"Larger breast tumours can be difficult to treat surgically and for some women treatment to shrink the tumour beforehand may help. It is not yet clear whether lapatinib is more effective than currently used standard treatments for shrinking tumours and while these very early results are promising it's important to remember that this is a small study involving only 45 patients. We await further research on this with interest."

Breakthrough Breast Cancer