OlympiA needed an organisation with the networks and coordinating experience of BIG to bring together the partners and all the researchers required to identify a pool of patients with inherited mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes that was large enough to find the numbers of patients needed for the study

Recruiting almost 6,000 patients in 21 countries in three years is an achievement that speaks for itself. For sure, we had hoped for another adjuvant breakthrough for patients with luminal breast cancer when we started this huge enterprise. However, it is science, not religion - we learn at least as much from “negative” trial results as we do from outrightly “positive” trials.

Thanks to the strong support and powerful momentum of our global team of BIG researchers to conduct this large-scale global academic study without commercial sponsorship, we were able to complete recruitment of participants a full two years ahead of schedule. This outstanding achievement shows that research on DCIS is a high priority for many patients and researchers to deliver the high-level evidence necessary and improve patient outcomes.

With more and more ‘weapons’ targeting the Achille’s heel of this cancer – namely the HER2 receptor –, it makes sense to cautiously simplify chemotherapy, which causes most of the treatment side effects… and this is the goal pursued by DECRESCENDO

I think DECRESCENDO may be a practice-changing study. If our hypothesis is correct, we will significantly reduce the incidence of potentially serious side effects due to chemotherapy, such as heart failure. At the same time, patients will receive a treatment that is as effective as current standards, but almost entirely targeted against the biological weaknesses of the cancer, thus avoiding much of the toxicity often associated with chemo drugs