Dr. Bardia on Sacituzumab Govitecan in TNBC

Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, director of Precision Medicine at the Center for Breast Cancer, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the potential of sacituzumab govitecan in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Sacituzumab govitecan is an antibody-drug conjugate that combines SN-38, the active metabolite of irinotecan, with a humanized immunoglobulin G antibody targeted against TROP-2. In the phase I/II clinical trial that evaluated the drug in patients with metastatic breast cancer, investigators reported an objective response rate of 34%, doubling historical standards, says Bardia. These responses occurred early and were durable. In the trial, the median onset of response was 2 months, with a median duration of response of 7.7 months.

The most common adverse events were diarrhea, anemia, neutropenia, and alopecia. Importantly, peripheral neuropathy was not observed; this is important because many patients who are eligible to receive sacituzumab govitecan may have lingering peripheral neuropathy from prior chemotherapy agents. If an agent is given that can exacerbate any residual peripheral neuropathy, it can quickly become problematic in the metastatic setting.