An immunotherapy/chemotherapy combo drug can keep early-stage breast cancer patients cancer-free for years About 97% of patients remained cancer-free five years after treatment with Kadcyla They also had better quality of life than those with chemo and immunotherapy applied separately FRIDAY, June 28, 20204 (HealthDay news) -- An immunotherapy/chemotherapy combo drug can help breast cancer patients remain cancer-free following treatment, a new trial shows. The combo drug, , is already approved to treat patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, researchers said. The new results show that stage 1 breast cancer patients who received Kadcyla stayed free of invasive cancer five years after treatment.
“One year of [Kadcyla] after surgery for patients with a stage 1 HER2-positive cancer leads to outstanding long-term outcomes, making it a reasonable treatment approach for select patients,” said senior study author , chief of breast oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. HER2-positive breast cancers are fueled by a protein that normally helps control cell growth. Cancer cells that make too much HER2 might grow more quickly and are more likely to spread to other parts of the body.
Patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer have their cancers return 5% to 30% of the time following initial treatment, said lead researcher , also with Dana-Farber. The immunotherapy drug helps inhibit HER2-positive cancers by blocking that protein. When given alongside chemo.