Expert opinion

Key topics include:

1. Roundtable introduction
2. Overview of the three CDK4/6 inhibitors in breast cancer
3. CDK4/6 inhibitor side effects and treatment monitoring in breast cancer
4. Side effect management, dose modification and switching treatments for CDK4/6 inhibitors in breast cancer
5. The future: considerations for managing early breast cancer in patients with CDK4/6 inhibitors – how will this be different?
6. Summary

Introduction

Expert speakers Dr Gregory Vidal, Dr Laura Spring, Professor Nadia Harbeck and Dr Veronique Dieras introduce themselves and the discussion topics. Topics include clinical data available in both advanced and curative breast cancer settings and optimal management of patients treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors.

Overview of the three CDK4/6 inhibitors in breast cancer

An overview of current clinical trials, treatment response and survival data provide insight into what the future holds for CDK4/6 inhibitors in the advanced setting, and how this might differ in high burden, HER2+ and triple negative breast cancer.

Dr Gregory Vidal, MD, PhD

Dr Gregory Vidal, a medical oncologist at the West Cancer Center and Research Institute addresses some key questions on the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors for the treatment of HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer. Key discussion points include the safety and monitoring of abemaciclib, palbociclib and ribociclib in clinical practice and emerging investigational biomarkers of CDK4/6 resistance. He also discusses the importance of keeping up to date with the latest data for CDK4/6 inhibitors in treating breast cancer patients, as the field is ever-changing, with many new ongoing clinical trials in different patient settings.

Dr Gregory Vidal also helped to co-create an interactive eLearning module that further highlights the differences between the three CDK4/6 inhibitors; abemaciclib, palbociclib and ribociclib. The eLearning incorporates three patient cases for metastatic breast cancer, where one CDK4/6 inhibitor is better suited to each patient. The rationale for CDK4/6 inhibitor selection in each case is also discussed.

To go through the patient case studies, visit our eLearning module

Dr Laura Spring, MD

Dr Laura Spring, MD, is a Medical Oncologist and clinical researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School. Dr Spring is particularly interested in targeted therapies in the neoadjuvant setting and has conducted multiple breast cancer research trials for localised metastatic breast cancer. She has authored and co-authored multiple research and review articles in journals including Lancet, The Lancet Oncology and Clinical Cancer Research. Dr Spring is also the recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation for her work on blood-based testing in the neoadjuvant setting using circulating tumour cell (CTC) monitoring.

Dr Alistair Ring, MD, PhD

Dr Alistair Ring, MD, PhD, is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Trust, and a principle investigator at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK. Dr Ring received his medical research degree at the Institute of Cancer in 2005 and his current research interests are in the management of early and metastatic breast cancer patients who are older. In 2018, he was appointed Honorary Reader in Breast Cancer Clinical Trials at the Institute of Cancer Research. He has authored and co-authored many peer-reviewed research articles in journals such as The Lancet Oncology, Cancer Research and the European Journal of Cancer.