Skip to main content

Do Herceptin (trastuzumab) injections hurt?

Medically reviewed by Melisa Puckey, BPharm. Last updated on Aug 9, 2023.

Official answer

by drugclasses.com

Herceptin (trastuzumab) is given as an intravenous infusion (IV drip), this requires a needle to be put into your vein which may hurt. Some patients experience an infusion reaction that has pain as one of the symptoms, but also has other symptoms of fever, chills, sometimes nausea, vomiting, pain, headache, dizziness, dyspnea, hypotension, rash, and weakness. If you have any of these symptoms it is important to inform the health care provider immediately.

The Herceptin Hylecta (trastuzumab and hyaluronidase-oysk) injection is given as a subcutaneous injection, which is an injection given under the skin. It may hurt when the health care profession pushes the needle into the skin and then you may feel discomfort as the Herceptin injected over a 2 to 5 minutes time period.

Does Herceptin cause pain as a side effect?

All medicines have side effects and one of the side effects of Herceptin is pain. From data collected over 4 studies showed pain was a side effect for 47% of patients using Herceptin as a single treatment agent.

For more information on Herceptin side effects click here: Herceptin side effects

References

Herceptin Medication Information: https://www.drugclasses.com/pro/herceptin.html
Herceptin Hylecta Medication Information: https://www.drugclasses.com/pro/herceptin-hylecta.html

Read next

What are monoclonal antibodies?

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are man-made proteins that mimic the natural antibodies produced by our immune systems. Monoclonal antibodies can be formulated into medicines to treat various types of illnesses, such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis. Continue reading

What are biosimilar drugs and how do they compare to biologics?

A biosimilar is a biological product that is similar to a reference biologic (usually the originally approved product) and for which there are no clinically meaningful differences in terms of safety, purity, and potency. One example is Amjevita (adalimumab-atto), the first biosimilar approved for Humira (adalimumab) on September 23, 2016. Continue reading

How long can you stay on Herceptin and Perjeta?

If you are receiving Perjeta for treatment of HER2+ early breast cancer, you may continue treatments with Herceptin every 3 weeks for one year (18 cycles total). For the treatment of HER2+ metastatic breast cancer, you will receive Perjeta and Herceptin until the medicine no longer controls your breast cancer or you have side effects that require you to stop treatment. You may receive other treatments with these medications. Continue reading

Related medical questions

Drug information

Related support groups