Ruta D. Rao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology at Rush Medical College, as well as the director of the Coleman Foundation Comprehensive Breast Cancer Clinic and medical director of Rush University Cancer Center, discusses emerging treatments for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

The breast cancer arena has seen a number of exciting developments in 2020, especially in the treatment of patients with HER2-positive disease, which saw 3 new FDA approvals, says Rao. The triplet of tucatinib (Tukysa), capecitabine (Xeloda), and trastuzumab (Herceptin) from the HER2CLIMB study has yielded exciting results due to the study's inclusion of patients with brain metastases, which has been an ongoing unmet need within this patient population, Rao says.

The antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu) was another agent that was approved by the FDA for pretreated patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. Additionally, the approval of neratinib (Nerlynx) in the metastatic setting has caused excitement, Rao concluded.

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Ruta D. Rao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology at Rush Medical College, as well as the director of the Coleman Foundation Comprehensive Breast Cancer Clinic and medical director of Rush University Cancer Center, discusses emerging treatments for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.


Dr. Rao on Emerging Treatments in HER2+ Metastatic Breast Cancer

Ruta Rao, MD, associate professor of medical oncology, Rush University Medical Center, discusses the use of abemaciclib (Verzenio) with or without fulvestrant (Faslodex) for the treatment of patients with hormone receptor—positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer following prior treatment with palbociclib (Ibrance).

Researchers evaluated whether using a different CDK 4/6 inhibitor after an initial one would be beneficial. There were 21 female patients, with a mean age of 57.8 years. About 19% of patients saw stable disease while 62% had progressive disease. The clinical benefit rate (CBR) was 29% and all patients had received abemaciclib monotherapy.

This study shows that abemaciclib has limited activity as a single agent in patients previously treated with palbociclib. Although the response rate in this trial was relatively low, researchers gained some understanding of how to identify patients who might respond well to this type of treatment, according to Rao.

Ruta Rao, MD, associate professor of medical oncology, Rush University Medical Center, discusses the use of abemaciclib with or without fulvestrant for the treatment of hormone receptor–positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer following prior treatment with palbociclib.

Ruta Rao, MD

Articles

Dr. Rao on Emerging Treatments in HER2+ Metastatic Breast Cancer

Dr. Rao on Abemaciclib Post-Palbociclib in Metastatic Breast Cancer