ATLANTA—Adding docetaxel(Drug information on docetaxel) (Taxotere) to anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy reduces the risk of relapse, new primaries, and death among women with node-positive breast cancer, first data from the BIG 2-98 trial show. Furthermore, the risk reduction is greater if taxotere is given sequentially instead of concurrently, John P. Crown, MD, an oncologist with the Irish Clinical Oncology Research Group, said at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 42nd Annual Meeting (abstract LBA519).
The randomized, open-label, phase III trial enrolled women who had node-positive, nonmetastatic, T1-3 breast cancer that had been resected with clean margins.
It tested different regimens containing doxorubicin(Drug information on doxorubicin) (A), cyclophosphamide(Drug information on cyclophosphamide) (C), and docetaxel (T). Patients were randomized in a 1:2 ratio to a pair of control arms (A and AC) or a pair of experimental arms (A-T and AT). All regimens finished with CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate(Drug information on methotrexate), and 5-FU), as follows.
Arm A: A 75 mg/m2 X 4 → CMF X 3
Arm AC: AC 60/600 mg/m2 X 4 → CMF X 3
Arm A-T: A 75 mg/m2 X 3 → T 100 mg/m2 X 3 → CMF X 3
Arm AT: AT 50/75 mg/m2 X 4 → CMF X 3
