Pertuzumab: a step forward in treating HER2-positive breast cancer

HER2-positive breast cancer represents an aggressive subtype of the disease occurring in approximately 20% of patients. While trastuzumab has revolutionized the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, a proportion of patients have de novo trastuzumab-resistant disease and even those who initially respond will eventually develop trastuzumab-resistance. The recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine of the promising results of the CLEOPATRA trial for the combination of pertuzumab plus trastuzumab plus docetaxel in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) represented a significant advancement in the treatment of this illness (1).