Breast Cancer

HER2 is a membrane-bound tyrosine kinase that when amplified contributes significantly to a tumor’s ability to proliferate and survive.

In the pivotal phase 3 KEYNOTE-355 study, pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) combined with chemotherapy met one of its dual primary endpoints of progression-free survival (PFS) as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) whose tumors expressed programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1).

A combination therapy may counter the resistance to human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 inhibitor neratinib in patients with breast, ovarian, lung, or other cancers.

The study was the first to examine proton pump inhibitors use in breast cancer survivors.

Margetuximab plus chemotherapy showed positive results in a second pre-specified interim overall survival analysis for the phase 3 SOPHIA study.

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, offers some potential treatments for aromatase inhibitor-caused arthralgia in breast cancer patients. This video was filmed at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Because of the vulnerabilities of CDK4/6i-resistant tumors, researchers believe that it is imperative to improve the survival of this group of patients.

Rita Nanda, MD, discusses various immunotherapy drugs in the pipeline and which she thinks will be approved next. This video was filmed December 11 at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

A study suggests that even brief art-making interventions can be beneficial for stressed caregivers of patients with cancer.

By entering clinical and disease characteristics into a learning algorithm, researchers were able to create an efficacy prediction for CDK inhibitors.

Abemaciclib is a potent oral cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor that has previously demonstrated statistically significant improvement in PFS and ORR in combination with endocrine therapy.

Rita Nanda, MD, explains how researchers are aiming to make immunologically silent tumors more inflamed. This video was filmed at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Officials with the FDA have granted accelerated approval to fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu, Daiichi-Sankyo) for the treatment of adults with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer that have received 2 or more prior anti-HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors offer the potential to significantly improve outcomes for women with HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

The study results also show improved outcomes for patients with brain metastases.

Although CDK4/6 inhibitors prolong progression-free survival for patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, the ideal treatment for each patient is currently unclear until adverse effects appear.

The research presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium suggests that the different mechanisms could be exploited to overcome CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance in breast cancer patients.

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Men with breast cancer had higher mortality than women regardless of cancer type, treatment, and access to care.

Specialty Pharmacy Times will be on-site in San Antonio, TX, for the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, taking place December 10 to 14, 2019.

Trastuzumab-dkst (Ogivri, Mylan, Biocon), a biosimilar to trastuzumab (Herceptin, Genentech Inc.), has been launched in the US, according to an announcement from Mylan N.V. and Biocon Ltd. It is the first biosimilar approved by the FDA and recommended by the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee.

Weight loss surgery found to cut the overall risk of developing cancers linked to obesity by 20%.

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The black-white disparity in breast cancer mortality has remained stable since 2011 after widening over the past 3 decades.

Fulvestrant injection treats certain types of breast cancer in post-menopausal women who were not previously treated with endocrine therapy and as a combination for advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4/6 Inhibitors, Margetuximab, Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, and Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Have Shown Promising Results

Puma’s supplemental New Drug Application is seeking approval for the use neratinib (Nerlynx) plus capecitabine as a third-line treatment in patients with human epidermal growth receptor 2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Oncologists suggest that substituting nab-paclitaxel instead of paclitaxel prior to surgery may lead to reduced risk of disease recurrence for certain women with breast cancer.

Older women with breast cancer who have a concurrent mental health condition are more likely to use opioids and have worse survival outcomes.

The newly approved therapy is equivalent to AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals’ Faslodex injection, 250mg/5mL.