Dr. Nanda on Immunotherapy in Metastatic TNBC

Rita Nanda, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, associate director, Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the efficacy of pembrolizumab and atezolizumab for the treatment of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Response rates seen with the two immunotherapy agents in two separate clinical trials in a heavily pretreated metastatic population was slightly under 20%, Nanda explains. This is significant due to how heavily pretreated these patients were, she adds.

Furthermore, these responses were found to be durable and lasted up to 40 weeks. Both pembrolizumab and atezolizumab were shown to be well-tolerated. Patients experienced low-grade toxicities that were easily managed.