Herceptin (trastuzumab) in combination with chemotherapy before surgery helps to eradicate HER2-positive breast tumours, research suggests.

Drug maker Roche announced the results of the Phase III study presented at the European Breast Cancer conference.

The GeparQuattro trial showed that Herceptin received in conjunction with standard chemotherapy eliminated tumours in 45.5 per cent of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer.

The randomised study involved 1,520 patients, 453 of whom had HER2-positive disease. Patients received four cycles of epirubicin plus cyclophosphamide plus Herceptin.

Patients then received one of three treatment options, either four cycles of docetaxel plus Herceptin, docetaxel plus Xeloda plus Herceptin concomitantly, or docetaxel plus Herceptin followed by Xeloda plus Herceptin.

HER2-negative patients received the same chemotherapy regimen without adding Herceptin.

One of the endpoints of GeparQuattro was pathological complete response rate (pCR) including in situ pathological response rate in patients with HER2-negative and HER2-positive disease. No significant cardiac events were observed in the study.

The GeparQuattro results are consistent with other Herceptin neoadjuvant studies, such as NOAH (NeOAdjuvant Herceptin, including 228 evaluable HER2-positive patients) and TECHNO (Taxol-Epirubicin-Cyclophosphamid-Herceptin Neoadjuvant), Roche said in a statement.

Dr Untch, Helios Clinics, Berlin, who presented the study findings, described the research as "very reassuring" for women with HER2-positive breast cancer.

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