BREAST CANCER

Javier Cortes, MD, PhD, discusses the data from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-355 trial of pembrolizumab and chemotherapy versus placebo and chemotherapy for previously untreated patients with locally recurrent inoperable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

"We are disappointed [with] this outcome. Breast cancer is a leading cause of death around the world and delaying or preventing the development of metastatic disease is a significant unmet need. PALLAS is a large study with many subgroups and we are actively collaborating to determine if there are patients who may benefit from adjuvant treatment with the palbociclib combination."

"Pembrolizumab and chemotherapy demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in PFS as compared with chemotherapy alone for the first-line treatment of metastatic TNBC with a PD-L1 CPS of 10 or higher tumors."

The addition of tucatinib to treatment with trastuzumab and capecitabine resulted in more than a 60% reduction in the risk of central nervous system progression or death in both patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who have active or stable brain metastases.

“Preliminary data for the 18 patients who have received belantamab mafodotin 2.5 mg/kg single dosing with bortezomib/dexamethasone suggests that this combination has an acceptable safety profile with no new safety signals identified."

"Based on the results of our study, women who present with a new diagnosis of breast cancer already in stage IV should not be offered surgery and radiation for the primary breast tumor with the expectation of a survival benefit."

Rebecca Dent, MD, discusses how investigators are targeting pathways in patients with triple negative breast cancer.

Entinostat plus exemestame did not improve overall survival in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology following the announcement of sacituzumab govitecan accelerated FDA approval, Hope Rugo, MD, discussed the published data from the phase 1/2 basket trial and the relevance of having sacituzumab govitecan available for the treatment of patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer.

Enrique Soto Pérez de Celis, MD, MSc, explains that although geriatric patients with breast cancer can be treated similarly to their younger counterparts, more steps are involved in the treatment decision-making process, starting with appropriate assessment of the patient.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil, discussed the findings from the phase I/II clinical trial of durvalumab in combination with concurrent nab-paclitaxel and doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide in the neoadjuvant setting for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, discussed the findings from the interim analysis for the phase III KEYNOTE-522 study, which added pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.

“Our results raise a number of questions for future research and patient care. It will be important in future studies to explore whether lowering insulin levels or targeting IR signaling will improve breast cancer disparities."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Erica Mayer, MD, discussed advances in the treatment landscape of HR-positive, HER2-negative breast, primarily with endocrine therapy and CDK4/6 inhibition.

Administering endoxifen in the window of opportunity between diagnosis and treatment may be effective for reducing tumor activity in patients with breast cancer.

Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, discusses the efficacy of sacituzumab govitecan in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

“While these findings cannot be exploited to improve clinical decision making today, our results, and the underlying data, collected on an increasingly rare group of triple-negative breast cancer patients treated with locoregional therapy alone, are a valuable contribution to ongoing research on the development, progression and ultimate treatment of triple-negative breast cancer."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Sarat Chandarlapaty, MD, PhD, explained the mechanisms of resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors. He also discussed new therapeutic strategies are being curated and implemented to overcome resistance in patients with ER-positive breast cancer.

Joyce A. O'Shaughnessy, MD, discusses the phase II plasmaMATCH trial, which investigated plasma-based molecular profiling of patients with advanced breast cancer to inform therapeutic choices.

Dose escalation may be beneficial for patients starting treatment regimens with a high incidence of toxicities that may lead to abrupt patient self-discontinuation.

"The approval of sacituzumab govitecan, the first ADC approved specifically for metastatic TNBC, an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis and few effective therapies, will give clinicians a novel tool for treating patients with this disease."

Safety data from the phase III EMBRACA trial were recently published. Talazoparib appears to be safe with manageable toxicities in patients with germline BRCA-mutated HER2-negative advanced breast cancer.

The FDA granted accelerated approval for tucatinib tablets in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine as treatment of adult patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, including patients with brain metastases who have received one or more prior anti-HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting. The approval comes 4 months ahead of the targeted action date from the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Andreas Hartkopf, MD, discussed the findings from the RIBECCA trial and the key takeaways from these data for patients with HR-positive HER2-negative breast cancer.

As the breast cancer setting quickly changes with each advancement, physicians who care for these patients will need to know how to apply these emerging treatments to the standards of care in their practice.