Tarantino Previews Exciting Research in HER2-Low Breast Cancer

Dr Tarantino provides background on the categorization of HER2-low disease in breast cancer, issues with standardization and interpretation, historical management strategies, and ongoing research with agents including trastuzumab deruxtecan, trastuzumab duocarmazine, and disitamab vedotin.

Welcome to OncLive On Air®! I’m your host today, Caroline Seymour.

OncLive On Air® is a podcast from OncLive®, which provides oncology professionals with the resources and information they need to provide the best patient care. In both digital and print formats, OncLive® covers every angle of oncology practice, from new technology to treatment advances to important regulatory decisions.

In today’s episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Paolo Tarantino, MD, a research fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to discuss the significance of ongoing research in HER2-low breast cancer.

On April 27, 2022, the FDA granted a breakthrough therapy designation to fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu) for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-low (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 1+ or IHC 2+/in-situ hybridization [ISH]–negative) breast cancer who have received a prior systemic therapy in the metastatic setting or developed disease recurrence during or within 6 months of completing adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients with hormone receptor (HR)–positive breast cancer should additionally have received or be ineligible for endocrine therapy.

The designation is based on findings from the pivotal phase 3 DESTINY-Breast04 trial (NCT03734029), where trastuzumab deruxtecan led to a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) vs physician’s choice of chemotherapy in patients with HER2-low unresectable and/or metastatic breast cancer, irrespective of HR status.

The positive topline results of DESTINY-Breast04 were announced in February 2022, and these data will be presented at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting in June.

In our exclusive interview, Dr Tarantino provided background on the categorization of HER2-low disease in breast cancer, issues with standardization and interpretation, historical management strategies, and ongoing research with agents including trastuzumab deruxtecan, trastuzumab duocarmazine, and disitamab vedotin.

That’s all we have for today! Thank you for listening to this episode of OncLive On Air®. Check back on Mondays and Thursdays for exclusive interviews with leading experts in the oncology field.

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