Conditions: Neoplasms, Breast
Keywords: Lapatinib ErbB2+ Early Breast Cancer Neoadjuvant breast carcinoma breast cancer breast lump HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer breast cancer positive for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer breast cancer progression estrogen-receptor (ER) positive(+) breast cancer Paget's disease
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: 
Enrollment: 455
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This is a randomised, open label multicenter Phase III study comparing the efficacy of neoadjuvant lapatinib plus paclitaxel, versus trastuzumab plus paclitaxel, versus concomitant lapatinib and trastuzumab plus paclitaxel given as neoadjuvant treatment in HER2/ErbB2 over-expressing and/or amplified primary breast cancer.

Patients will be randomised to receive either: lapatinib 1500 mg daily, trastuzumab 4 mg/kg intravenous (IV) load followed by 2 mg/kg IV weekly, or lapatinib 1000 mg daily with trastuzumab 4 mg/kg IV load followed by 2 mg/kg IV weekly for a total of 6 weeks. After this biological window, patients on monotherapy arms will continue on the same targeted therapy plus weekly paclitaxel 80 mg/m\^2 for a further 12 weeks, up to definitive surgery. In the combination arm, patients will receive lapatinib 750 mg daily in combination with trastuzumab 2 mg/kg IV plus weekly paclitaxel 80mg/m\^2 IV for a further 12 weeks, up to definitive surgery. After surgery, patients will receive three courses of adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-Fluorouracil Epirubicin Cyclophosphamide (FEC) followed by the same targeted therapy as in the biological window of the neoadjuvant setting for a further 34 weeks (in the combination arm, lapatinib dose will be 1000 mg daily in combination with trastuzumab). The planned total duration of the anti-HER2 therapy one year.

Primary objective is to evaluate and compare the rate of pathological complete response (pCR) at the time of surgery in patients with HER2/ErbB2 overexpressing or amplified operable breast cancer randomised to lapatinib followed by lapatinib plus paclitaxel versus trastuzumab followed by trastuzumab plus paclitaxel versus lapatinib in combination with trastuzumab followed by lapatinib, trastuzumab plus paclitaxel.

Detailed description:
This was a parallel group, three-arm, randomized, multicenter, open-label phase III study. The study compared the efficacy and tolerability of neoadjuvant lapatinib and paclitaxel, versus trastuzumab and paclitaxel, versus the combination of lapatinib with trastuzumab and paclitaxel given as neoadjuvant treatment in HER2/ErbB2 over-expressing and/or amplified primary breast cancer. Subjects were randomized to receive lapatinib, trastuzumab or lapatinib plus trastuzumab for a total of 6 weeks. After this biological window, subjects continued on the same targeted therapy plus weekly paclitaxel for a further 12 weeks, until definitive surgery (total neoadjuvant therapy duration of 18 weeks). Paclitaxel could be initiated at Week 4 if there is evidence of progressive disease (PD) at that time. Within 6 weeks after surgery, subjects received 3 cycles of adjuvant 5-flourouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC) followed by the same targeted therapy as in the biological window of the neoadjuvant phase for a further 34 weeks (to complete 52 weeks of anti-HER2 therapy).

After completing 52 weeks of (neo-)/adjuvant anti-HER2 therapy, subjects were scheduled to attend post-treatment follow-up every 3 months during the first year (months 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24), every 6months in Years 3 to 5 inclusive, and annually thereafter up to Year 10. Each subject was to be followed for 10 Years. All subjects were to be followed for EFS and OS up to 10 years from last subject randomized.

Arms:
arm 1: 1500 mg lapatinib for 6 weeks followed by lapatinib plus weekly paclitaxel for an additional 12 weeks. After definitive surgery, 3 cycles of adjuvant FEC followed by 34 weeks of adjuvant lapatinib. arm 2: 4 mg/kg IV loading dose followed by 2 mg/kg IV weekly trastuzumab for 6 weeks followed by 2 mg/kg trastuzumab plus weekly paclitaxel for an additional 12 weeks. After definitive surgery, 3 cycles of adjuvant FEC followed by 34 weeks of adjuvant trastuzumab (8 mg/kg loading dose followed by 6 mg/kg every 3 weeks). arm 3: 1000 mg lapatinib plus 4 mg/kg IV loading dose followed by 2 mg/kg IV weekly trastuzumab for 6 weeks, followed by 750 mg lapatinib plus 2 mg/kg IV weekly trastuzumab plus weekly paclitaxel for an additional 12 weeks. After definitive surgery, 3 cycles of adjuvant FEC followed by 34 weeks of adjuvant lapatinib (1000 mg) in combination with trastuzumab (8 mg/kg loading dose followed by 6 mg/kg every 3 weeks).

Interventions: intervention 1: Lapatinib intervention 2: Trastuzumab intervention 3: Paclitaxel
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Small molecule receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor intervention 2: Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibody intervention 3: antimicrotubule agent

Protocol document: