Breast Cancer Drug Approved as 1st Treatment

Women with one type of breast cancer now will be able to get drug treatment before surgery. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved uses for the drug Perjeta (pertuzumab). It now is approved for early-stage as well as advanced HER2-positve breast cancers. HER2 receptors are proteins found on the surface of most breast cancers. They provide docking stations for a hormone that can increase breast cancer growth. Cancers with an excess number of HER2 receptors are called HER2-positive. Pertuzumab blocks the receptors so the hormone can’t attach to the cells and spur them to grow. The drug already was approved for treatment of HER2-positive cancers that had spread. Now women with early-stage cancers can receive it as their first treatment. This is the first breast-cancer drug approved for use before surgery.