Achievements
Today's research, tomorrow's cures​
Research is the only way to understand breast cancer, how and why it progresses, and how it can ultimately be stopped.
Research saves lives
We know more about breast cancer than ever before. BIG brings together the world’s leading breast specialists to combine resources and multi-disciplinary expertise. For more than 20 years we have been conducting innovative clinical trials and research that have helped to develop better and more personalised treatments, improving patient survival and quality of life.
Much of BIG’s research is considered to be landmark, introducing particularly innovative designs, contributing to significant breakthroughs, or paving the way towards more personalised treatment of the disease. The studies highlighted here have either already made an impact or we expect them to in the future:
Patients are at the heart of our research
These studies have already made an impact, or that we expect to in the future:
EXPERT
The results of this study could influence how 2 in 5 women with breast cancer are treated by identifying which women could be spared unnecessary radiation therapy after surgery in the future.
POSITIVE
POSITIVE represents a unique opportunity to allow young women who have had hormone-sensitive breast cancer to temporarily interrupt their treatment and try to conceive.
AURORA
The AURORA research programme aims to better understand the molecular characteristics and evolution of recurrent or metastatic breast cancer, in the hope of treating more effectively, and possibly blocking the disease in the future.
SOFT & TEXT
The international randomised SOFT & TEXT clinical trials offer a new post-operative treatment option for young women with hormone-sensitive early breast cancer.
APHINITY
The APHINITY trial found that adjuvant pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab and chemotherapy in patients significantly improved the rates of invasive-disease-free survival among patients with HER2-positive, operable breast cancer when it was added to trastuzumab and chemotherapy.
MINDACT
The MINDACT trial found that 46% of patients identified as high-risk for cancer recurrence based on traditional factors were identified as low-risk when adding the MammaPrint® test. It represents a large academic effort towards de-escalating therapies.
ALTTO & NeoALTTO
The ALTTO and NeoALTTO trials represent a valuable resource for translational research as well as large scale academic collaboration.
HERA
The HERA trial indicated that one year of treatment with trastuzumab had a significant and sustained benefit in preventing cancer recurrence, thus establishing a new standard treatment for HER+ breast cancer.
Aromatase Inhibitors
The BIG 1-97, BIG 2-97 and BIG 1-98 trials contributed to the body of evidence that aromatase inhibitors could be used as a safe alternative to tamoxifen.
