Researchers evaluate Herceptin, rHuEPO interaction

Researchers from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues reported data from a retrospective analysis evaluating the combined use of cancer drug Herceptin trastuzumab and recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) to treat HER2 over-expressing metastatic breast cancer. Patients treated with both Herceptin and rHuEPO had a significantly lower progression-free survival (PFS) rate at one year compared to patients who received Herceptin without rHuEPO (19% vs. 40%, p=0.039). Additionally, a multivariate analysis of the study showed that patients treated with both Herceptin and rHuEPO had significantly lower overall survival vs. Herceptin without rHuEPO (p=0.03). Data were published in Cancer Cell. ...