Dr. Sharma on the Rationale to Combine Veliparib With Chemotherapy in TNBC

Priyanka Sharma, MD, professor of medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, discusses the rationale to combine veliparib (ABT-888) with chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

During the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program, findings from the randomized phase 2 SWOG S1416 trial demonstrated improved progression-free survival with the addition of veliparib to cisplatin in patients with BRCA-like TNBC compared with cisplatin alone.

About half of patients with TNBC that do not carry germline BRCA1/2 mutations are homologous recombination deficient (HRD), Sharma says. In the phase 2 study, HRD-positive patients are categorized as having a BRCA1-like phenotype.

Additionally, PARP inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy in patients with BRCA-mutant metastatic breast cancer in ovarian cancer and prostate cancer, explains Sharma. However, PARP inhibitors have not demonstrated efficacy in patients who do not have BRCA-mutant breast cancer.

As such, the study aimed to evaluate the potential role of PARP inhibitors in a select patient population beyond patients with BRCA-positive disease, Sharma concludes.