Study of Preoperative Weekly Paclitaxel and Carboplatin With Lapatinib (Tykerb®) in Patients With ErbB2-Positive Stage I-III Breast Cancer

* Pathologic complete response following neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to be an independent, strong predictor of disease-free and overall survival in operable breast cancer * The addition of neoadjuvant trastuzumab to chemotherapy results in a 2-3 fold increase in pCR rates in operable ErbB2-positive breast cancer * Lapatinib is being explored as an alternative to trastuzumab in large clinical trials in operable ErbB2-positive breast cancer * In a randomised phase III adjuvant trial, BCIRG 006, non-anthracycline chemotherapy (docetaxel and carboplatin) has been shown to be as effective as conventional sequential anthracycline-containing chemotherapy and docetaxel, in combination with trastuzumab, but with improved cardiac safety * Weekly paclitaxel has been shown in a randomized phase III study to be the optimal adjuvant taxane regimen * Weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin, in combination with lapatinib, has demonstrated safety and efficacy in Phase I/II clinical studies of metastatic breast and ovarian cancer * The investigators aim to assess the efficacy of a non-anthracycline containing regimen, weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin, in combination with lapatinib in inducing pCR in the neoadjuvant treatment of ErbB2-positive non-metastatic breast cancer. The investigators hypothesize that this combination will achieve pCR rates of at least 35%