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GSK to trial breast cancer drug

13 May 2008

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced the start of a phase III trial to investigate the role of lapatinib (Tykerb) in the treatment of early breast cancer.

UK-based GSK and the Breast International Group will conduct the research by evaluating how quickly cancer cells in the breast disappear in women with early stage breast cancer who have taken lapatinib before surgery.

ErbB2-positive breast cancer, the type under investigation in the trial, affects 25 per cent of women diagnosed with early breast cancer, according to the Oncologist.

"This important global phase III study, which has begun enrolling within a year of the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of lapatinib, demonstrates the confidence that the oncology community has in lapatinib," commented Paolo Paoletti, senior vice president of GSK's oncology medicines development centre.

GSK's oncology research involves collaborations with more than 160 cancer centres around the world and the company is developing a new generation of prevention, supportive care, chemotherapy and targeted treatments.

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