CDK4/6 inhibitors: advances in breast cancer management

How might the early breast cancer treatment landscape change over the next 2 years? Dr Nadia Harbeck and Professor Michael Gnant review findings presented at ESMO 2023 and discuss approaches to optimal treatment selection in a rapidly evolving treatment landscape.

Recurrence risk is an important factor that must be considered in the treatment of early breast cancer. Dr Nadia Harbeck and Professor Michael Gnant discuss how recurrence risk and other factors can inform treatment selection.

Dr Nadia Harbeck and Professor Michael Gnant review the latest clinical trial evidence for CDK4/6 inhibitors in the early breast cancer setting and discuss what the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of abemaciclib means for clinicians and people with early breast cancer.

Dr Nadia Harbeck and Professor Alessandra Gennari review the completed clinical trials for CDK4/6 inhibitors in early breast cancer, namely PALLAS and PENELOPE-B for palbociclib and monarchE for abemaciclib. The divergent results for palbociclib and abemaciclib were unexpected, particularly as both proved effective in the metastatic setting and are now standard therapy for this indication. Dr Harbeck and Professor Gennari share their views on the possible reasons for the different outcomes with palbociclib and abemaciclib in early breast cancer.

Dr Nadia Harbeck and Professor Alessandra Gennari delve deeper into the RxPonder trial to explore the design and primary outcomes of the trial. Dr Harbeck and Professor Gennari discuss how RxPonder validated the use of the 21-gene expression assay as a tool to identify patients who could be spared chemotherapy.