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Combination Treatment Extends Survival in HER2 Patients

Results of the CLEOPATRA study

Publish date:: March 6, 2015

Adding the monoclonal antibody pertuzumab to trastuzumab and docetaxel in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) metastic breast cancer extended overall survival times compared to placebo, reports the Clinical Evaluation of Pertuzumab and Trastuzumab (CLEOPATRA) study.

In the study of 808 patients who had not received previous chemotherapy or anti-HER2 therapy, subjects were randomly assigned to receive pertuzumab or a placebo in combination with trastuzumab and docetaxel. Compared to placebo, pertuzumab was found to extend median:

• survival rates to 56.5 months versus 40.8 months

• progression-free survival time by 6.3 months

• duration of response by 7.7 months

Citation: Swain SM, Baselga J, Kim SB, et al; CLEOPATRA Study Group. Pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(8):724-734. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1413513.

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