Palbociclib Combination Prolongs Life After Breast Cancer Hormone Therapy

MUNICH—Patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2−) advanced breast cancer who were treated with a combination of the cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib in combination with fulvestrantlived longer than those receiving a placebo with fulvestrant in the prospective, randomized, double-blind, phase three PALOMA-3 study from which overall survival (OS) data were reported at the 2018 annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology, ESMO.

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New standard

“This combination should be the standard of care for patients progressing on endocrine therapy,” said PALOMA-3 study senior investigator Massimo Cristofanilli MD FACP, Professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago IL. He tells the Audio Journal of Oncology: “There’s no doubt there is a clinical and meaningful strong benefit—not only in delaying the disease but also [in] survival. This should replace the use of chemotherapy,” he said.

The trial found that patients taking the CDK4/6 inhibitor with fulvestrant lived a median of 6.9 months longer than those in the control group treated with placebo and fulvestrant.