BREAST CANCER

Debu Tripathy, MD, discusses current and emerging treatment strategies in the neoadjuvant setting for patients with HER2-postive breast cancer.

NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center has announced that Ophira Ginsburg, MD, will be director of its new High-Risk Program, which will identify, study, and care for patients with hereditary syndromes that increase their risk for developing cancer.

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, associate professor, department of surgical oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the promise immunotherapy has shown thus far in breast cancer, particularly triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). 

An overview of FDA news that happened in April.

The treatment paradigm for HER2-positive breast cancer continues to focus on minimizing the role of chemotherapy and determining the optimal combination of HER2-targeted agents for specific patient subsets.

The addition of abemaciclib to letrozole or anastrozole improved progression-free survival over either aromatase inhibitor alone in women with HR+/HER2-negative breast cancer enrolled in the phase III MONARCH 3 study.

Veliparib fell short of meeting the primary endpoint in a phase III non–small cell lung cancer trial and a triple-negative breast cancer trial.

An Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee hearing has been scheduled by the FDA for May 24, 2017, to discuss a new drug application for neratinib as a treatment for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer following prior treatment with postoperative trastuzumab.

Steven J. Katz, MD, discusses a population-based survey which examined the association between patient report of surgical recommendation against contralateral prophylactic mastectomy and to what extent it was discussed with the surgeon.

The American Association for Cancer Research has announced Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, will serve as its president and Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, will serve as its president-elect for the 2017-2018 term.

Debu Tripathy, MD, chair of Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses neoadjuvant treatment strategies in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Hope S. Rugo, MD, discusses the final overall analysis of the phase II MONARCH 1 trial, which explored the use of abemaciclib for the treatment of patients with pretreated hormone-receptor (HR)-positive/HER 2-negative advanced breast cancer.

Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, discusses recent trials of immunotherapy and chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer, as well as the future role of immunotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer.

 According to the results of a phase I study of single agent anti-PD-L1 atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC), ten percent of patients showed impressive long-term survival, although researchers said that aside from some biomarker evidence, it’s yet unclear why the drug was more effective in this subset of patients.

The irreversible pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib showed single-agent activity across cohorts of patients with <em>HER2</em>-mutant advanced cancers, according to findings from the phase II SUMMIT study presented at the 2017 AACR Annual Meeting.

Palbociclib (Ibrance) has been granted a full approval by the FDA for use in combination with letrozole as a frontline treatment for postmenopausal women with ER-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will recognize several individuals for their contributions to cancer research during its annual meeting, to be held April 1 to 5 in Washington, DC.

Anees B. Chagpar, MD, associate professor of Surgery (Oncology), director of The Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, Yale Cancer Center, discusses novel agents for neoadjuvant triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) treatment.

Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, discusses considerations for using the bone-targeted agents denosumab and zoledronic acid in patients with breast cancer.

Leslie Schover, PhD, discusses ways in which providers can better address sexuality issues associated with treatment for patients with breast cancer.

Discussing the challenges that clinical practices will face as they implement the Medicare Oncology Care Model (OCM), the strategies that have worked for practices using similar payment models, and how the CMMI hope to work with oncologists for the success of the OCM.

Sara Hurvitz, MD, discusses&nbsp;ongoing advances that continue to revolutionize the treatment of patients with HER2+ breast cancer.

Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, discusses&nbsp;recent trials of immunotherapy and chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer, as well as the future role of immunotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer.

Progression-free survival was improved by adding abemaciclib to fulvestrant compared with fulvestrant alone in women with HR+/HER2-negative breast cancer enrolled in the phase III MONARCH 2 study.

According to a careful examination of studies exploring the immune response, immunotherapy will be most effective as a treatment for breast cancer when it is used to alter the tumor microenvironment. Nora Disis, MD, presented her findings during the 15th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference.