G. Thomas Budd, MD, Medical Oncologist, Taussig Cancer Center at Cleveland Clinic, Professor, Hematology & Medical Oncology, Case Western Reserve University, discusses prior treatment with trastuzumab and the effect on two regimens of paclitaxel.

The S0221 trial compared two different regimens of paclitaxel for patients with breast cancer. Patients in the trial saw equal benefit from a low-dose regimen of paclitaxel weekly administered for 12 weeks compared with a standard-dose regimen of paclitaxel given every two weeks for 12 weeks with pegfilgrastim support.

The trial, Budd says, was amended to allow the use of trastuzumab in HER2-positive patients. The amendment did not demonstrate an effect on the results. Researchers did analyze any paclitaxel schedule effect in different subsets of patients in the trial, such as those with triple-negative, ER-positive, or HER2-positive disease.

Patients with HER2-positive disease who did not receive prior trastuzumab did seem to benefit slightly more from the every-two-week schedule, though it was a small subset of patients. Budd reinforces the idea that there was no biologic rationale behind this finding.

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Dr. Budd on Prior Trastuzumab and Paclitaxel Regimens

G. Thomas Budd, MD, Medical Oncologist, Taussig Cancer Center at Cleveland Clinic, Professor, Hematology & Medical Oncology, Case Western Reserve University, discusses the background and results of the S0221 trial in breast cancer.

Previously, Budd says, researchers analyzed two dose-dense regimens and found that treatment with doxorubicin-cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel given every two weeks was more effective than the same regimen with all drugs given every three weeks.

Another trial looked at the same regimen given weekly and compared it to treatment every three weeks. In this analysis, weekly treatment was better than treatment every three weeks.

In the S0221 trial, researchers compared these two schools of thought, Budd says. The trial showed that in terms of efficacy, these two regimens produced similar outcomes, but the side effects differed.

View more from the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting

G. Thomas Budd, MD, Medical Oncologist, Taussig Cancer Center at Cleveland Clinic, discusses the background and results of the S0221 trial in breast cancer.

G. Thomas Budd, MD

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Dr. Budd on Prior Trastuzumab and Paclitaxel Regimens

Dr. Budd Discusses Paclitaxel Regimens in Breast Cancer