Dr M Rimawi from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX discussed on behalf of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) the results of the TBCRC023 trial, a randomised phase II neoadjuvant trial of lapatinib combined with trastuzumab, with or without endocrine therapy for 12 weeks versus 24 weeks in patients with HER-2 overexpressing breast cancer. The gene discussed is ERBB2; the disease is breast carcinoma.