First Patient Enrolled in Global Phase III Study of Bevacizumab and Trastuzumab in Early Bre...( Collaborative groups set out to con...),Health

Collaborative groups set out to confirm potential benefits of anticancer

therapies to treat women with breast cancer

PARIS, May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A new international study for women with HER2-positive breast cancer is open for enrollment. The pivotal BETH (BEvacizumab and Trastuzumab Adjuvant Therapy in HER2-positive Breast Cancer) study is a Phase III clinical research trial that is investigating the benefits of combining two monoclonal antibodies, the anti-angiogenic, bevacizumab (Avastin(R)) and the targeted therapy trastuzumab (Herceptin(R)), together with chemotherapy for the treatment of patients with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

"Trastuzumab is already the standard of care across all stages of HER2-positive breast cancer and has a proven survival benefit. Bevacizumab has been shown to be of benefit when given in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer," said Dennis Slamon, MD, director of clinical/translational research at the University of California, Los Angeles' (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal investigator, Cancer International Research Group. "The design of the BETH clinical trial is based on the preclinical and early clinical work from the Slamon/TRIO Laboratories at UCLA. We are looking forward to investigating the additional benefit to patients of combining these two treatments with chemotherapy in the treatment of early breast cancer."

"Despite treatment advances, over 400,000 women worldwide still die from breast cancer every year, so striving to improve treatment outcomes remains critical," said Norman Wolmark, MD, chairman of the Department of Human Oncology at the Allegheny General Hospital, and principal investigator, NSABP Foundation, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, who welcomes the start of the study.

In BETH, patients will be randomized to a regimen of chemotherapy (either 6 cycles of docetaxel/carboplatin or 3 cycl
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