October 2020.
Due to the vast advancements achieved in the breast cancer treatment paradigm over the last few years, physicians are able to better identify important disease characteristics, such as the BRCA1 or BRCA2mutation, which can help improve treatment-decision making for patients with breast cancer. As treatments continue to evolve, they will become more personalized with the emergence of targeted therapies. Thus, genomic testing wil be an important component of screening patients with breast cancer.
One of the latest milestones in the breast cancer space has been the approval of several CDK4/6 inhibitors. These include abemaciclib (Verzenio), palbociclib (Ibrance), and ribociclib (Kisqali), which were all approved in combination with hormone therapy by the FDA for the treatment of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. The use of a CDK4/6 inhibitor with hormone therapy has shown great improvements in progression-free survival in patients, particularly with advanced disease, or stage IV disease.
Other targeted agents and similar precision medicine therapeutic strategies have been approved or are showing promise in clinical trials, which further highlight the need for conducting genomic testing in patients with breast cancer.
In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Daniel A. Vorobiof, MD, medical director, Belong. Life, discussed the evolution of the breast cancer treatment landscape and the emerging role of genomic testing in this space. He also shared advice for community oncologists treating patients with breast cancer.
