Dr. DeMichele on the I-SPY2 Trial for HER2+ Breast Cancer

Angela M. DeMichele, MD, professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, discusses results of the HER2-positive breast cancer cohort of the phase II ISPY-2 trial, which investigated the neoadjuvant combinations of ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) versus paclitaxel (Abraxane) and trastuzumab (Herceptin).

With I-SPY2, researchers are able to investigate multiple active agents simultaneously and can minimize the number of patients enrolled to find effective agents, DeMichele explains. In the HER2-positive breast cancer cohort, following the combination treatment, all patients went on to receive 4 cycles of doxorubicin and cyclophasphamide before surgery. The primary endpoint of the trial was pathological complete response (pCR).

Results showed that the combination of T-DM1 and pertuzumab was approximately 30% more likely to achieve a pCR in patients compared with paclitaxel and trastuzumab. Additionally, DeMichele adds, patients in the T-DM1 and pertuzumab arm also experienced less toxicity.

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