Dr. Howard Burris on Patient-Reported Outcomes of MARIANNE

Howard A. “Skip” Burris, MD president of Clinical Operations and chief medical officer at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discuses the MARIANNE trial in advanced HER2-positive breast cancer.

In the overall study results, patients with locally advanced or untreated metastatic HER2-positive disease were randomized to receive T-DM1 plus pertuzumab (Perjeta), T-DM1 alone, or trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus a taxane-based agent. Phase III results of the trial showed that neither T-DM1 arm was associated with improved outcomes compared with the trastuzumab/taxane arm.

However, in patient-reported outcomes of the trial, patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer who received treatment with trastuzumab emtanzssine were found to have a lower incidence of treatment-related adverse events.

These means that trastuzumab emtanzssine is still a good option for patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, says Burris.