Her-2

If Ullrich sent him the DNA probes for Her-2 from Genentech, Slamon could test his collection of cancer cells for samples with hyperactive Her-2—thus bridging the gap between the oncogene and a human cancer.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

Her-2, in contrast, was discovered on the sprawling campus of the pharmaceutical company Genentech.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

Her HMO insisted that because Herceptin was in investigational trials, testing the tumor for Her-2 was useless.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

When the trials were statistically combined, overall survival in women treated with Herceptin was increased by 33 percent—a magnitude unprecedented in the history of chemotherapy for Her-2 positive cancer.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

In 1986, he sent Slamon the Her-2 probe to test on cancer samples.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

For Genentech, Her-2 represented a route to developing a new drug.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

Slamon had identified Her-2 amplification in breast cancer tissue in 1987; Carter and Shepard had produced a humanized antibody against it by 1990.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

Puzzled by the “on-off” pattern, Slamon sent an assistant to determine whether Her-2 positive tumors behaved differently from Her-2 negative tumors.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

In the summer of 1990, Carter proudly produced a fully humanized Her-2 antibody ready to be used in clinical trials.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

But Ullrich, holed away in his lab with Her-2, had lost touch with the trajectory of the company outside the lab.

The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010