Dr. Arnedos on the POP Randomized Trial for Early Breast Cancer

Monica Arnedos, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medical Oncology, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave Roussy, discusses the Preoperative Palbociclib (POP) Randomized Trial for early-stage breast cancer.

Arnedos and researchers sought to determine whether short-term palbociclib (Ibrance) in the neoadjuvant setting would lead to decreased proliferation and early biomarker changes in patients with early-stage breast cancer. Because palbociclib is normally given in combination with other agents, it is difficult to assess its efficacy as a single agent, Arnedos explains.

In this study, palbociclib was administered for 14 days. Results showed that short-term palbociclib had a significant impact on proliferation in patients who were hormone receptor-positive/HER2-negative. Though a normal treatment cycle is 1 month, researchers were able to determine which patients would have any response to palbociclib at the end of the 2-week cycle.