Further fuelling the controversy was the subtle recommendation of initial FISH in specific settings (core-needle biopsies)10 and the direct suggestion of ‘FISH as the primary HER2 testing modality for women with breast cancer who are candidates for HER2-targeted therapies’.11 This latter paradigm shift has remained largely unnoticed, despite being published in a high-impact journal and the fact that Slamon was among its authors more than 20 years after his initial discovery. Here, ERBB2 is linked to breast carcinoma.