Shao Z, Pang D, Yang H, et al. - Researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial including 329 women with early or locally advanced breast cancer in order to assess the benefits of adding pertuzumab to trastuzumab and docetaxel in the neoadjuvant setting, compared with placebo, trastuzumab, and docetaxel in the treatment Asian patients with ERBB2-positive early or locally advanced breast cancer. Patients were administered 4 cycles of intravenous pertuzumab (840-mg loading dose and 420-mg maintenance doses), trastuzumab (8-mg/kg loading dose and 6-mg/kg maintenance doses), and docetaxel (75 mg/m²) or intravenous placebo, trastuzumab, and docetaxel every 3 weeks, before surgery. Patients were administered 3 cycles of intravenous fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide followed by 13 cycles of the same intravenous anti-ERBB2 therapy (pertuzumab and trastuzumab or placebo and trastuzumab) for up to 1 year after surgery. Outcomes revealed total pathologic complete response rates of 39.3% vs 21.8% with pertuzumab vs placebo, a significant difference. The groups had generally comparable safety data. These findings support the data conferring the benefit of the pertuzumab regimen.