Dr. Esserman on the I-SPY 2 Trial in Breast Cancer

Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, Professor, University of California, San Francisco, comments on the findings from the I-SPY 1 trial and the basis for the I-SPY 2 trial in patients with breast cancer.

From the I-SPY 1 trial, researchers and physicians found out how to get all biomarkers off of a single core and that it was possible to work together to share data and bio-specimens. Not only did pathologic complete response translate into a better outcome for survival and recurrence, it also proved to be a much better signal for different disease subsets.

Rather than analyze subsets retrospectively, Esserman says, physicians should sort out data from the beginning to know for whom and in which subset new drugs might work.