ndash;5 occurred at an incidence of at least 2% greater among patients randomized to Herceptin plus chemotherapy as compared to chemotherapy alone: arthralgia (11% vs. 8.4%), myalgia (10% vs. 8%), nail changes (9% vs. 7%), and dyspnea (2.5% vs. 0.1%). The majority of these events were Grade 2 in severity.
Safety data from Study 4 reflect exposure to Herceptin as part of an adjuvant treatment regimen from 2124 patients receiving at least one dose of study treatment [AC‑TH: n = 1068; TCH: n = 1056]. The overall median treatment duration was 54 weeks in both the AC‑TH and TCH arms. The median number of infusions was 26 in the AC‑TH arm and 30 in the TCH arm, including weekly infusions during the chemotherapy phase and every three week dosing in the monotherapy period. Among these patients, the median age was 49 years (range 22 to 74 years). In Study 4, the toxicity profile was similar to that reported in Studies 1, 2, and 3 with the exception of a low incidence of CHF in the TCH arm.
Metastatic Breast Cancer Studies
The data below reflect exposure to Herceptin in one randomized, open‑label study, Study 5, of chemotherapy with (n=235) or without (n=234) trastuzumab in patients with metastatic breast cancer, and one single‑arm study (Study 6; n=222) in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Data in Table 4 are based on Studies 5 and 6.
Among the 464 patients treated in Study 5, the median age was 52 years (range: 25–77 years). Eighty‑nine percent were White, 5% Black, 1% Asian and 5% other racial/ethnic groups. All patients received 4 mg/kg initial dose of Herceptin followed by 2 mg/kg weekly. The percentages of patients who received Herceptin treatment for ≥ 6 months and ≥ 12 months were 58% and 9%, respectively.
Among the 352 patients treated in single agent studies (213 patients from Study 6), the median age was 50 years (range 28–86 years), 86% were White, 3% were Black, 3% were Asian, and 8% in other racial/ethnic groups. Most of the patients received 4 mg/kg initial dose of Herceptin followed by 2 mg/kg weekly. The percentages of patients who received Herceptin treatment for ≥ 6 months and ≥ 12 months were 31% and 16%, respectively.
Metastatic Gastric Cancer
The data below are based on the exposure of 294 patients to Herceptin in combination with a fluoropyrimidine (capecitabine or 5-FU) and cisplatin (Study 7). In the Herceptin plus chemotherapy arm, the initial dose of Herceptin 8 mg/kg was administered on Day 1 (prior to chemotherapy) followed by 6 mg/kg every 21 days until disease progression. Cisplatin was administered at 80 mg/m on Day 1 and the fluoropyrimidine was administered as either capecitabine 1000 mg/m orally twice a day on Days 1-14 or 5-fluorouracil 800 mg/m/day as a continuous intravenous infusion Days 1 through 5. Chemotherapy was administered for six 21-day cycles. Median duration of Herceptin treatment was 21 weeks; median number of Herceptin infusions administered was eight.
The following subsections provide additional detail regarding adverse reactions observed in clinical trials of adjuvant breast, metastatic breast cancer, metastatic gastric cancer, or post‑marketing experience.
Cardiomyopathy
Serial measurement of cardiac function (LVEF) was obtained in clinical trials in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. In Study 3, the median duration of follow‑up was 12.6 months (12.4 months in the observation arm; 12.6 months in the 1‑year Herceptin arm); and in Studies 1 and 2, 23 mont |
