Dr. Tripathy on Determining the Best HER2 Targeted Therapy

Debu Tripathy, MD, professor of medicine and co-leader of the Women’s Cancer Program at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, talks about deciding the best HER2 treatment to give a patients, he mentions that in the first-line setting the FDA indication is to receive trastuzumab. If there is a recurrence there are more choices, such as deciding between trastuzumab and lapatinib.

Tripathy uses the side effect profile and consultations with patients to decide which drug to use. Each drug has different implications. Despite its larger side effect profile lapatinib has the benefit of being administered orally, which may be important to the patient. These are all items that need to be considered when choosing the best treatment.