AstraZeneca: Herceptin with Arimidex improves patient outcomes

AstraZeneca has announced new research findings suggesting that combining its Arimidex (anastrozole) drug with Herceptin can improve breast cancer treatment compared with hormonal therapy on its own.

The research, which was presented at the 31st European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Istanbul, showed that this drug combination controls cancer more effectively and for longer in postmenopausal women with advanced hormone-sensitive, HER2-positive tumours than hormonal therapy treatments alone. Arimidex and Herceptin were found to keep tumours under control, without progression, for 4.8 months, while hormonal therapy worked for 2.4 months.

HER2-positive tumours indicate an aggressive cancer that is more likely to lead to relapse than some other types of cancer. According to AstraZeneca, about two-thirds of breast cancer-afflicted postmenopausal women carry a hormone-sensitive form of the disease, with up to 25 per cent of these suffering from HER2-positive tumours.

The study also found that beginning treatments with anastrozole rather than tamoxifen could lead to a reduced likelihood of early hormone-sensitive breast cancer recurring in postmenopausal women.

“Preventing recurrence is the primary aim of adjuvant treatment – if the cancer doesn’t come back, you can’t die from it,” said Joan Houghton, who presented the data on behalf of the ATAC (Arimidex, tamoxifen, alone or in combination) Trialists’ Group.

“In the ATAC trial, over half of the additional recurrences seen with tamoxifen occurred within the first two and a half years of surgery. There may still be a place for tamoxifen in early breast cancer, but these data show us that treating women with anastrozole, from the outset, provides the optimal protection against early recurrence.”

Arimidex is currently also approved for use to treat locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer and was the first hormonal treatment of its kind to be FDA-approved for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women.