Dr. Brose on Recent Advances in Papillary Thyroid Cancer

Marcia S. Brose, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Abramson Cancer Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania, discusses recent advances in papillary thyroid cancer.

One of the newest phase II results to be released, Brose says, tested the efficacy of vemurafenib BRAF^V600E-mutated papillary thyroid cancer. This multicenter, international trial was done at 12 sites and showed a 39% response rate with an additional 23% of patients who had stable disease.

Brose says the progression-free survival was over 15 months, which is comparable to what was seen in phase II studies of the other tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Brose believes these agents should be investigated further because patients who progress on sorafenib or any first-line agent are usually healthy and have great performance status. Since patients with thyroid cancer will likely end up being treated with 4, 5, or even 6 lines of treatment, Brose feels that there is a need to get more agents available to treat the disease.