Omnitarg (Genentech/Roche ) success in CLEOPATRA trial in untreated HER-2 positive Breast Cancer

The CLEOPATRA study enrolled 808 patients with previously untreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Patients receiving Omnitarg (pertuzumab), from Genentech/Roche, on top of the current standard treatment combination of trastuzumab (Herceptin) and docetaxel showed a median progression-free survival of 18.5 months, compared with 12.4 months for patients receiving Herceptin and docetaxel alone (hazard ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.51-0.75, p<0.0001). this increase in the time to disease progression over the herceptin and docetaxel alone is should justify adding a second mab product to conventional chemotherapy. also an interim analysis of the key secondary endpoint of overall survival shows a strong trend in favour of prolonged survival with pertuzumab but a full analysis is not expected until late 2013. the safety data are also promising as there was no increase in cardiac dysfunction>