Evaluating 6-months of HER2-targeted Therapy in Patients With HER2 Positive Early-stage Breast Cancer That Achieve a Pathological Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy

A Single-arm, Multicentre, Pragmatic Trial Evaluating 6-months of HER2-targeted Therapy in Patients With HER2 Positive Early-stage Breast Cancer That Achieve a Pathological Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy (REaCT-HER TIME)

The activity of trastuzumab in early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer, has been demonstrated in many studies, with meta-analyses showing that in combination with a variety of chemotherapy backbones, trastuzumab reduces the risk of recurrence by nearly half, and death by a third. However, treatment with trastuzumab can result in cardiotoxicity, including heart failure, as well as the significant cost of treatment and the requirement for patients to attend the chemotherapy unit for treatment every 3 weeks for one year. Therefore there has been increasing interest in identifying which patients can safely have less treatment. The investigators therefore propose a real-world, single arm, multicentre trial evaluating 6 months of HER2 targeted therapy, for patients with early-stage, HER2 positive breast cancer, who achieve a pathological complete response (pCR) with upfront systemic chemotherapy and HER2 targeted therapy.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Breast Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Trastuzumab

Detailed Description

The activity of trastuzumab in early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer, has been demonstrated in many studies, with meta-analyses showing that in combination with a variety of chemotherapy backbones, trastuzumab reduces the risk of recurrence by nearly half, and death by a third. However, treatment with trastuzumab can result in cardiotoxicity, including heart failure, as well as the significant cost of treatment and the requirement for patients to attend the chemotherapy unit for treatment every 3 weeks for one year. Therefore there has been increasing interest in identifying which patients can safely have less treatment. The duration of adjuvant trastuzumab in early-stage breast cancer in the majority of studies was empirically set at 12 months, which became the de facto standard of care. Neoadjuvant treatment has become the new standard of care for patients with early-stage HER2-positive disease. While patients with residual disease benefit from further alternative treatment those with a pathological complete response (pCR) have an excellent outcome and are candidates for treatment de-escalation. The investigators therefore propose a real-world, single arm, multicentre trial evaluating 6 months of HER2 targeted therapy, for patients with early-stage, HER2 positive breast cancer, who achieve a pCR with upfront systemic chemotherapy and HER2 targeted therapy.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 52
• Phase: Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H8M2
      • The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Early-stage (I-III, i.e. non-metastatic) as per AJCC 8th edition, ER/PR positive or negative, HER2-positive as per 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) testing in breast cancer guidelines.
• Treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and HER2 targeted therapy preoperatively with a pathological complete response (pCR) defined as the absence of residual invasive cancer on hematoxylin and eosin evaluation of the complete resected breast specimen and all sampled regional lymph nodes following completion of neoadjuvant systemic therapy at surgery. Must have received less than 6 months of HER2 targeted therapy
• Able to provide verbal consent and complete questionnaires in English or French

Exclusion Criteria:

• Residual invasive disease following neoadjuvant therapy, or metastatic disease
• Contraindication to further HER2-targeted therapy following completion of neoadjuvant treatment
• Any psychological, familial, sociological or geographical condition potentially hampering compliance with the trial protocol

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: De-escalated HER2 targeted treatment; Patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer who demonstrate a pathological complete response at time of surgery.	Drug: Trastuzumab; Patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer who demonstrate a pathological complete response at time of surgery will be treated with HER2 targeted therapy for a total of 9 treatments every 3 weeks (or its equivalent if given weekly) including the treatment received preoperatively.; Other Names: Herceptin

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Multiple site activation	Evaluating the feasibility of multiple Canadian site activation within the first year of study accrual. Achieved by the activation of at least 4 Canadian sites within 1 year of the first patient being accrued into the study.	1 year after first participant is accrued
Medical oncologist active participation	Evaluating the number of medical oncologists at each study site who actively participate in the trial. Active participation includes approaching eligible patients for the study, as well as following up with the patients who are taking part in the study.	Through to end of accrual - average 2 years
Enrolment of at least 50 participants across all sites within 9 months of the fourth site accruing its first participant	Enrolment of at least 50 participants across all sites within 9 months of the fourth site accruing its first participant.	9 months after fourth site accrues first participant

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Cardiac events	Cardiac events defined as death from a cardiac or heart failure of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV, or with a decrease in the left ventricular ejection fraction of at least 10 percentage points from baseline to a value of less than 50%. Cardiac monitoring will be assessed as per physician standards	3 years after study enrolment
Rate of HER2-positive treatment discontinuation	De-escalated HER2-positive treatment discontinuation and the reasons why treatment was discontinued	6 months after study enrolment
Health-related quality of life	Health-related quality of life measure using the EuroQol-5 Dimension-5 Level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire.	Baseline, 3, 6, 12 and 36 months after study enrolment
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios	The difference in cost between 6 months of HER2-positive therapy versus the standard 12 months of HER2-positive therapy.	3 years from study enrolment
Disease free survival	Disease Free Survival (DFS), defined as the percentage of people in the trial who are alive and disease-free (no local invasive breast cancer recurrence, new local invasive breast cancer) at 3 years	3 years from study enrolment
Overall survival	Overall Survival (OS), defined as the number of people alive, with or without signs of cancer at 3 years	3 years from study enrolment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sharon McGee, MD, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Bradbury M, Savard MF, Vandermeer L, Clemons L, Pond G, Hilton J, Clemons M, McGee S. Shorter Durations of Anti-HER2 Therapy for Patients with Early-Stage, HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: The Physician Perspective. Curr Oncol. 2023 Dec 14;30(12):10477-10487. doi: 10.3390/curroncol30120763.

Helpful Links

• The Rethinking Clinical Trials (REaCT) website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 13, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 15, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 4, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): June 16, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 16, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pathological complete response; Her2 Positive; Cardiac toxicities
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Wounds and Injuries; Pathologic Processes; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Heart Diseases; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Skin Diseases; Breast Diseases; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; Radiation Injuries; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; Cardiotoxicity; Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins; Proteins; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Antibodies; Immunoglobulins; Immunoproteins; Blood Proteins; Serum Globulins; Globulins; Trastuzumab
• Other Study ID Numbers: REaCT-HER TIME

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No