Dueling Tests Pressure Roche Bet on Herceptin

After surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, 80 visits to oncologists and more than 300 hours in clinics, Stephanie Butland decided she had had enough cancer treatment for one lifetime. The British author quit Roche Holding AG (ROG)’s cancer drug Herceptin after half the time it’s normally prescribed. “I was ready to say, I’m done with cancer now and am back to my life,” Butland said. “I think it’s not uncommon for people to feel that Herceptin is kind of like the straw that breaks the donkey’s back.” In cutting her treatment short, Butland took a bet that her cancer wouldn’t return. Many more women may be encouraged to do the same after next week’s meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology, where a French medical team will present the results of a study of whether Herceptin is just as effective at postponing the recurrence of cancer and helping women live longer after six months as it is after one year of treatment, the current standard of care.