Metastatic breast cancer patients benefit from combination treatment

Metastatic breast cancer patients benefit from combination treatment

11 Dec 2014

Women with metastatic breast cancer benefited from a treatment combining eribulin and capecitabine in a clinical trial, as presented in the latest conference. Furthermore, the safety and tolerability of the treatment was consistent with previous data.

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Results presented at the latest breast cancer conference

Results of a Phase 2, open-label, dose-confirmation study of eribulin in combination with capecitabine suggest that this therapy is efficacious in women with metastatic breast cancer, with a safety and tolerability profile consistent with previous data. In combination, eribulin and capecitabine had a median progression-free survival of 7.1 months.

Data presented during the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium provide further evidence on the efficacy, safety and quality of life profile of eribulin, in the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer and data in early stage breast cancer.

A second Phase 2, multicenter, open-label study, explores the feasibility of eribulin plus capecitabine as an adjuvant therapy in women with early-stage, estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer.

"Additional treatment option that is both effective and well tolerated"

A major short-coming of most chemotherapy combinations in metastatic breast cancer has been that although more active, the side effects of combinations are often unacceptable. This Phase 2 study suggests that eribulin in combination with capecitabine could provide an additional treatment option for women with metastatic breast cancer that is both effective and well tolerated,” comments Dr. Chris Twelves, Professor of Clinical Cancer Pharmacology and Oncology, and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology at the University of Leeds and St James’s Institute of Oncology.

Two additional studies highlight quality-of-life outcomes for women treated with eribulin first line in monotherapy and combination with trastuzumab, respectively.

  • The first Phase 2 study assesses eribulin as a first line therapy for women with HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer and generates a stable or improvement in quality of life scales measured by the scale established by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).
  • The second Phase 2 study investigates eribulin in combination with trastuzumab and shows positive improvements in pain and in arm and breast symptoms which warrant further investigation.

Additional data pooled from the pivotal Phase 3 trial called "EMBRACE", the "Study 3017" and a single-arm Phase 2 study highlights that the benefit of eribulin was similar for women with invasive lobular carcinoma and invasive ductal carcinoma (overall survival; 13.4 vs 13.6 months).

Invasive lobular carcinoma is the second most common form of breast cancer subtype and is associated with lower response rates to preoperative chemotherapy compared to invasive ductal carcinoma.

Results from this study contrast with data from current chemotherapies.

Eribulin is approved in Europe under certain conditions

First approved by the European Commission in 2011, eribulin received European Marketing Authorization Approval (MAA) in June 2014 for the treatment of women with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have progressed after at least one chemotherapeutic regimen for advanced disease. Prior therapy should have included an anthracycline and a taxane in either the adjuvant or metastatic setting, unless patients were not suitable for these treatments.

Source: eCancer News

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