Puma drug better than Herceptin in HER2 breast cancers: trial

(Reuters) – A mid-stage trial of Puma Biotechnology’s experimental drug neratinib showed that it was more effective, given before surgery, than Herceptin, the Roche drug commonly used in women with a type of breast cancer fueled by a protein called HER2. About 39 percent of HER2 patients given a combination of neratinib and chemotherapy achieved a “pathologic complete response,” compared with 23 percent of women treated with chemo and Herceptin. The trial also found that the experimental drug resulted in a higher rate of pCR, 45 percent, than standard care, 29 percent, in women with tumors for which genetic testing indicated a high probability that their cancer would return. Alan Auerbach, Puma’s chief executive officer, said the company is in the process of designing Phase 3 trials of neratinib in both HER2-positive patients and in patients with a high risk of breast cancer recurrence.