By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) – Older black women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–positive breast cancer are less likely than their white peers to receive targeted therapy with trastuzumab (Herceptin), a U.S. study suggests. When researchers examined data from Medicare, the U.S. health program for people over age 65, they found just 40% of black women with HER2-positive tumors received trastuzumab, compared with 50% of white women. “A very substantial racial disparity exists,” said study leader Dr. Katherine Reeder-Hayers of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Many older black women miss out on targeted breast cancer drug