Dr. Verma Discusses Emerging Agents in HER2+ Breast Cancer

Sunil Verma, MD, professor and head of the Department of Oncology at the University of Calgary, medical director of the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, discusses emerging agents for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer.

Currently, the available HER2-targeted agents in this space are pertuzumab (Perjeta), T-DM1 (ado-trastuzumab emtansine; Kadcyla), lapatinib (Tykerb), and trastuzumab (Herceptin). Although tremendous strides have been made, there are still patients who have a shortened progression-free survival, or who do not respond at all.

There are a number of agents currently being evaluated such as the antibody drug conjugate DS-8201, which was granted a breakthrough designation by the FDA in August 2017 for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive, locally advanced, or metastatic breast cancer who have been treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) and have disease progression after ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla).