Prof Martine Piccart-Gebhart presents updated data from the randomised, phase III Neoadjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization (NeoALTTO) trial

HER2-positive breast cancer patients who had a pathologic complete response had significantly better rates of event-free and overall survival compared with patients who did not have a pathologic complete response. 

“NeoALTTO is a randomised, phase III clinical trial evaluating whether a combination of two HER2-targeted therapies, trastuzumab and lapatinib, given with standard paclitaxel chemotherapy before surgery [neoadjuvant therapy] is better than just one of the HER2-targeted therapies given with the same chemotherapy in terms of inducing pathological complete responses,” said Martine Piccart-Gebhart, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Breast International Group (BIG) in Brussels, Belgium. “We previously reported that the combination therapy resulted in twice as many patients having a pathologic complete response.

“Our new analysis shows that the improved pathologic complete response rates seen in the hormone receptor negative/HER2 positive subgroup seem to translate into better long-term outcomes for patients,” continued Piccart-Gebhart. “I believe that these results if confirmed in the large ALTTO adjuvant trial (to be reported at the 2014 ASCO meeting) will impact the process of drug development in the field of early HER2-positive breast cancer.”