Advances in Treating Triple-Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer: Optimizing Pharmacotherapeutic Management Strategies

Details

Over a quarter million women and almost 2,700 men in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and it is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. The prognosis associated with breast has improved in the last few decades due in larger part to earlier detection. Detection at the loco-regional stage is associated with a five-year overall survival (OS) rate of ≥ 85% in contrast to 27% for distant or metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Because it is not curable, the goals of care in MBC are: palliation of symptoms, improvement of quality-of-life, and extension of survival. Hormone receptor positivity has traditionally conferred a better prognosis. In contrast, the presence the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is associated with a more negative prognosis. Finally, there remains a basal-like group lacking in those markers, miscellaneously labeled triple-negative (TNBC), with some cancers observed to be more aggressive, but with the overall population similar in prognosis to hormone-positive breast cancer, owing to TNBC’s heterogenous nature.

Target Audience:

The following healthcare professionals: Medical oncologists; physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists who practice in oncology; and any other HCPs with an interest in or who clinically encounter patients with breast cancer.

By the end of the session the participant will be able to:

• Describe the prognostic and treatment implications of TN status in the diagnosis and treatment of MBC.
• Describe treatment options presently available for TN MBC, including safety, and apply them to patient cases using evidence-based medicine.
• Describe emerging treatment options presently available for TN MBC, their mechanisms of action and safety, and anticipated place in therapy.
• Discuss barriers patients with TN MBC experience in attempting to access care, including burden of disease and adverse consequences of therapy, and propose ways to ameliorate them.