Dr. Leon Ferre on Emerging Therapies in TNBC

Roberto A. Leon Ferre, MD, oncologist, Mayo Clinic, discusses emerging therapies for the treatment of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Physicians are starting to see a lot of preclinical work and laboratory research being translated to the clinic, says Leon Ferre. For example, findings from the phase III IMpassion130 trial demonstrated that the combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) reduced the risk of progression or death by 38% (HR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.49-0.78; P<.0001) versus nab-paclitaxel alone in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic PD-L1—positive TNBC. This is the first immunotherapy to prove beneficial in the clinic, says Leon Ferre.

In the last couple of years, several targeted therapies have been approved for TNBC, including PARP inhibitors for patients who have germline BRCA mutations. That approval set an important precedent in TNBC, as it was the first nonchemotherapy drug to be approved for this patient population, he adds. A lot of activity has also been observed with antibody-drug conjugates, several of which have been granted breakthrough therapy designations by the FDA.