Hi Denise,

I was recently at the NSH and that specific question came up......is the Herceptest the only test approved that will allow the patient to receive the Herceptin therapy.  The answer was a resounding no!  Any test that proves there is over amplification of the protein or a test that proves one has the gene qualifies the patient to recieve Herceptin therapy. 
Ventana hope to have their CB-11 antibody FDA approved within a very short period of time.  The CB-11 has been shown to have very good correlation with FISH Her2.
Dr. Allred who spoke at the Culling Memorial lecture had some very good statistics on this.  I believe you may contact him thru his email for this info:
"dcallred@bcm.tmc.edu"  The lecture was about prognostic & predictive factors on breast cancers.

Ann

Ann Maruska
Fairview-University Medical Center
Mpls. MN  55454
amarusk1@fairview.org
612-672-4005