November 4, 2013: Look-Alike / Sound-Alike ALERT: trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) and trastuzumab (Herceptin)
Health Canada recently approved Kadcyla (generic name: trastuzumab emtansine), as a single agent, for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive, metastatic breast cancer who have received both prior treatment with Herceptin (generic name: trastuzumab) and a taxane (e.g., docetaxel, paclitaxel), either separately or in combination.Herceptin is the brand name for trastuzumab (an anti-HER2 antibody), whereas Kadcyla is a HER2-targeted antibody drug conjugate, combining trastuzumab and a cytotoxic agent (derivative of emtansine). As both Herceptin and Kadcyla share an identical component in their respective generic names (trastuzumab), and both have indications for HER2+ metastatic breast cancer, there is a strong potential for medication error between the two compounds. Mix-ups of these 2 products can lead to serious patient harm.
Although their indications may be similar, the dosing and treatment schedules for these 2 products are quite different. Herceptin (trastuzumab) can be given as a loading dose of up to 8 mg/kg intravenously (IV), followed by a maintenance dose of 6 mg/kg IV every 3 weeks, or as a loading dose of 4 mg/kg IV, followed by a maintenance dose of 2 mg/kg IV weekly. However, the recommended and maximum tolerated dose of Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) is 3.6 mg/kg as an intravenous infusion administered every 3 weeks as a single agent. Read more...
