Dr. Dang on Long-Term Findings of the APHINITY Trial in HER2+ Breast Cancer

Chau Dang, MD, medical oncologist, chief, West Harrison Medical Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the APHINITY trial, which explored the use of pertuzumab (Perjeta) in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus chemotherapy in patients with high-risk HER2-positive breast cancer.

In this trial, pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and chemotherapy demonstrated a 0.9% absolute improvement in overall survival (OS) compared with trastuzumab and chemotherapy alone; the triplet regimen continued to reduce the risk of disease recurrence in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. Longer follow-up at 6 years showed that the invasive disease-free survival benefit favored those who received the pertuzumab regimen. However, the OS improvement is not statistically significant, says Dang.

The triplet therapy suggests to be promising for patients with high burden disease, Dang says. The third interim OS analysis will occur in 2.5 years, and a definitive OS analysis will occur after 640 deaths out of 4804 patients.