Dr. Graff on Novel Therapies in Metastatic Breast Cancer

Stephanie L. Graff, MD, director, Breast Program, Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute, associate director, Breast Cancer Research Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses novel therapies for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

CDK4/6 inhibitors are a mainstay in the treatment of patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer, says Graff. At the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, physicians saw updates in both frontline and second-line CDK4/6 inhibitors in premenopausal patients.

An FDA pooled analysis took women with metastatic estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer across all the CDK4/6 inhibitors and evaluated whether all the patient populations equally benefitted. The answer, notes Graff, was a resounding “yes.” Based on these data, CDK4/6 inhibitors should be used early in essentially all patients with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Another topic that was discussed at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting was novel therapies for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. There were also updates on therapeutic agents like niraparib (Zejula).