Dr. Nicholas Robert on MA.17R Trial for Patients With Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Nicholas J. Robert, MD, medical oncology, hematology, Virginia Cancer Specialists, US Oncology, discusses the MA.17R trial, which explored an extension of adjuvant letrozole for 5 years after completing an initial 5 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy alone or preceded by tamoxifen in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.

The randomized trial was to evaluate how long treatment with aromatase inhibitors should be given to patients with early-stage breast cancer, Robert explains. Patients were randomized to receive continued use of letrozole or placebo after receiving 5 years of letrozole from the earlier MA.17 trial. Additional patients outside of the original trial who received the standard 5-year treatment of letrozole were also recruited to MA.17R.

Results showed that with 1900 patients and a 6-year follow-up, there was an improvement in disease-free survival in patients who continued treatment with letrozole versus placebo at 95% and 91%, respectively. There is no yet available data on overall survival, Robert adds.