The prestigious scientific journal “The Lancet” recognizes the commitment to independent clinical research in breast cancer

30% of patients with localized HER2 positive breast cancer can be cured without the need for chemotherapy, drastically reducing the side effects of treatment. This is the conclusion of one of the clinical trials of MEDSIR -a company dedicated to promoting independent clinical research in oncology internationally – which has recently been published in The Lancet, one of the most relevant scientific journals internationally.

After 3 years of monitoring results, with this publication the scientific magazine endorses the commitment to independent clinical research in breast cancer. We have co-directed the study, called PHERGain, with oncologists Dr. Antonio Llombart-Cussac and Dr. José Pérez, as well as the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team that includes researchers from 45 centers distributed in 7 European countries. In total, 356 patients with HER2-positive localized breast cancer have been enrolled. The results have been extraordinarily relevant, because they bring us closer and closer to the end of chemotherapy in a significant percentage of patients with this type of tumor.

After 7 years of clínical research

Unlike clinical trials promoted by the pharmaceutical industry, studies initiated by independent investigators are conceived, designed, implemented and supervised by the principal investigators and their team, collaborating with a network of hospitals or research centers. It is very gratifying for MEDSIR that The Lancet recognizes the immense work behind a clinical trial like PHERGain, from the conception to the publication of its results. It has been 7 years of research in which we have been immersed in finding treatment strategies that allow us to maintain or improve the high cure rates of patients diagnosed with localized HER2 positive breast cancer.

Towards a personalized medicine

With the results obtained, we have been able to observe that many patients can be treated safely and effectively without chemotherapy and without compromising their prognosis compared to the rest. In addition, we have highlighted the importance and benefit of adaptive clinical trials, focused on the individual patient, compared to classic designs, facing two treatment options that have already been closed.

This is the first study that gradually adjusts each patient’s treatment based on how they are responding to therapy, thus moving towards a more personalized medicine, based on the global participation of the ecosystem of academic and clinical collaborators, whose contribution has been very notable. in this clinical study.

Although the three-year follow-up results related to the primary objective of the study have been published, we will continue to make progress. The PHERGain study is ongoing and will evaluate how patients fare long-term, both 5 and 7 years after surgery.

Beyond PHERGain

At MEDSIR we are also designing new studies and carrying out others, such as the PHERGain-2 study, which has a similar approach, but in patients with smaller tumors. We are designing how to optimize the strategy, not only reducing the intensity of treatment, but adapting it specifically in each case and also increasing it in a group of patients who need more treatment. We are convinced that the quality of the preparation of this type of studies will lead us to encouraging results. Always with the same objective: to improve the quality of life of patients with innovative treatments.

Dr. Javier Cortés.
Principal investigador of PHERGain study and founder of MEDSIR.