Her-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer - Hardcover

Provides a close-up look at Genentech's new cancer drug, Herceptin, a nontoxic therapy that deactivates the protein that makes breast cells turn malignant, and offers a detailed account of its creation, development, and promise as an effective treatment. 60,000 first printing. Tour.

ter she underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy, Barbara Bradfield's aggressive breast cancer had recurred and spread to her lungs. The outlook was grim. Then she took part in Genentech's clinical trials for a new drug. Five years later she remains cancer-free.

        Her-2 is the biography of Herceptin, the drug that provoked dramatic responses in Barbara Bradfield and other women in the trials and that offers promise for hundreds of thousands of breast cancer patients. Unlike chemotherapy or radiation, Herceptin has no disabling side effects. It works by inactivating Her-2/neu--a protein that makes cancer cells grow especially quickly-- produced by a gene found in 25 to 30 percent of all breast tumors. Herceptin caused some patients' cancers to disappear completely; in others, it slowed the progression of the disease and gave the women months or years they wouldn't otherwise have had. Herceptin is the first treatment targeted at a gene defect tha