Dr. Yardley Shares Insight on the Impact of Biosimilars

Denise Yardley, MD, senior investigator, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, shares insight on the potential impact of biosimilars in breast cancer.

The role of biosimilars is a moving target right now, and community oncologists are waiting to see how the implementation of biosimilars would fit into practice, Yardley says. Sarah Cannon Research Institute has had a number of biosimilar clinical trials come its way, but they have yet to participate in them. Yardley says that she understands the need for biosimilars and the potential benefit to patients, but right now her practice is a proponent of standard drugs.

Several biosimilars have been approved by the FDA, including the trastuzumab (Herceptin) biosimilar MYL-1401O (Ogivri; trastuzumab-dkst) for use in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. Phase III data from the HERITAGE trial presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting indicated clear equivalence for MYL-1401O compared with standard trastuzumab. MYL-1401O combined with taxane-based chemotherapy for frontline treatment of patients with HER2-positive disease mirrored the progression-free survival of patients treated in the same setting with trastuzumab.