• An 8-study meta-analysis of 1,726 patients with breast, ovarian or prostate cancer to determine the risk of rash with pertuzumab.
• Incidence of all-grade rash was 24.6%, with high-grade in 1.1% of patients.

Most consider pertuzumab to be quite similar to trastuzumab in that it generally causes few side effects other than (as they say) financial. However, this very clinically relevant paper reviews data from 8 Phase II or III trials involving 1,726 patients with breast, ovarian and prostate cancer treated with pertuzumab and demonstrates that approximately one quarter of individuals developed a rash with this agent. Although rarely high grade, this toxicity can be a particular concern because the effectiveness of this agent often means that patients receive it for extended time periods. Typically manifested as an acneiform eruption similar to what has been seen with anti-EGFR agents such as erlotinib and cetuximab along with anti-HER2 agents including lapatinib, the authors suggest that clinicians employ interventions such as moisturization, sunblock, tetracyclines and topical corticosteroids to manage and/or ameliorate this effect.