article - Aggressive breast cancer meets its match

What does the nib in Lapitinib mean, my chemo nurse told me that anything with a mab meant monoclonal antibody, so it may be a silly question but I'm wondering what nib is and is it something I should try and does one have to take for a year?  Sorry for all the questions. 

I got herceptin but never got Lapitinib.  Is it out there for all Her2+++ patients?

Lapitinib is Tykerb, which is currently approved by the FDA to use with Xeloda.  So it's not a new drug, but there are trials that are trying it with drugs other then Xeloda.  Some doctors are using it along with Herceptin.  They usually don't use Tykerb until you no longer respond to Herceptin. 

Great article!

I remember when I was diagnosed waiting for my Her2 status to come back. My onc was hoping that I WAS Her2+.At the time I thought he was nuts! I was going to change oncs!..lol.

Now I understand why.

I have read on a site that triple+ woman only account for about 10% of the population. So if 20-30% ob BC is Her2+, and the majority is ER-, this would make sense. I hope someone with more knowledge can elaborate a bit more..

When I first started getting Herceptin, my sister who was with me at the onc's office, asked about Tykerb, and we were told then, it's for metastatic, so we have that to fall back on later if needed.

Orange1, sounds like me... HER+++ and very weakly ER/PR positive (<5%).  

Now to figure out what all this means

Me too!  I'm also 90% ER 90% PR and 5.7 ratio HER2.  All high!

I started a clinical trial, the ALTTO trial, when I finished the AC. When I started Taxol, I also started taking Lapatinib tablets, 1500 mg a day. I consented to the trial hoping to get both Herceptin and lapatinib, but didn't get into that arm of the trial. The purpose of the research is to see if lapatinib is as good on earlier-stage cancers as it is on metastatic cancers. It apparently works in a similar way as Herceptin, but more directly against the HER2+ cancer cells. We'll see what happens in a year or 5 or 10!

I just finished a clinical trial in which I took litabnib daily and then infusions of abraxen? once every month for four months before my upcoming surgery. My tumors both shrunk over 1cm in size during the trial. I have been told that I have had excellent results. As it was a trial and I am HER2+ I still have to do all of the regular stuff. Will have mx, chemo and rads then reconstruction.

I hope the results found in my trial turn out to benefit women in the future. Taking a few pills everyday sure beats going in for hours long infusions.