Expert opinion
Join our leading breast cancer experts as they share their thoughts on:
- the clinical utility of CDK4/6 inhibitors in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer
- the key considerations when selecting the right CDK4/6 inhibitor for your patient
- optimal management of patients treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors
- commentary on the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in the COVID-19 era
CDK4/6 inhibitors: advances in breast cancer management
Join Dr Nadia Harbeck, Director of the Breast Center and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at LMU University Hospital in Munich, Germany, Professor Alessandra Gennari, Head of Medical Oncology at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy, and Professor Michael Gnant, Full Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, in this podcast series on CDK4/6 inhibitors for the treatment of early breast cancer.
Episode 1: The use of biomarkers to inform and individualise treatment decisions for patients with early breast cancer
Dr Nadia Harbeck and Professor Alessandra Gennari discuss ground-breaking trials, including the TailorX and RxPonder trials, that validated the use of gene expression assays to inform therapy decisions for patients with early breast cancer. Dr Harbeck also describes the ADAPT series, which combines gene expression assays with endocrine response to individualise therapy.
Episode 2: The RxPonder trial – identifying patients most likely to benefit from adjuvant therapy
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.
Episode 3: Explanations for the divergent results of PALLAS/PENELOPE-B and monarchE trials
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.
Episode 4: CDK4/6 inhibitors in the early breast cancer setting: Is the evidence clear?
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.
Episode 5: The many definitions for ‘high risk of recurrence’ in early breast cancer: What should inform clinical practice?
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.
Episode 6: The rapidly evolving treatment landscape for high-risk early breast cancer: Choosing the optimal treatment option
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.
Meet the experts
Dr Nadia Harbeck
Dr Nadia Harbeck MD, PhD is head of the Breast Center and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at LMU University Hospital in Munich, Germany. She is a member of the expert panel issuing the German AGO recommendations for breast cancer therapy, and Co-Director of the West German Study Group. From 2009 to 2015, Dr Harbeck served on the executive board of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and was appointed subject editor for the ESMO Breast Cancer Guidelines in 2020. Professor Harbeck is principal investigator or steering committee member of numerous breast cancer trials, particularly with novel targeted compounds and individualized treatment strategies. She has a strong interest in eHealth and is a co-developer of CANKADO, an international digital patient diary (www.cankado.com).
Disclosures: Dr Harbeck has received honoraria from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Gilead, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Roche, Sandoz, and Seagen for lectures and/or consulting.
Professor Alessandra Gennari
Professor Gennari MD, PhD is Head of Medical Oncology at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy. Her areas of expertise include diagnostic and therapeutic innovation in breast cancer. Her current research is focused on the identification of individual drug responsiveness in breast tumours and therapy optimisation in metastatic breast cancer. Other active research areas include the evaluation of host metabolism in breast cancer; functional imaging by PET-CT with 18F-fluoroestradiol to evaluate endocrine responsiveness in advanced breast cancer; and immunotherapy and response prediction in breast cancer. She is the principal investigator and coordinator of the ERA-NET JTC 2011 project (European TRANSCAN project) – Early prediction of efficacy of endocrine therapy in breast cancer: pilot study and validation with 18F-fluoroestradiol (ET-FES project).
Disclosures: Professor Genari holds consultancy, advisory roles, and speaker bureau involvement for AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Gentili, Gilead, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Organon, Pfizer, Roche, and Seagen. She has also received non-profit research support from AIRC, the Italian Association for Cancer Research, EraNET Transcan, the Italian Ministry of Health, LILT Novara, MIUR Department of Excellence, and the University of Piemonte Orientale. Professor Gennari is a member of the scientific board for the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) and has membership or affiliation with the Italian League for the Fight against Tumors (LILT) and the Fondazione Umberto Veronesi (FUV).
Professor Michael Gnant
Dr Michael Gnant, MD FACS FEBS, is Full Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, where he also serves as President of the Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group. He has co-chaired and hosted the renowned St Gallen International Consensus Panel for Early Breast Cancer in Vienna since 2015. Dr Gnant’s research interests include several fields of surgical oncology, particularly breast and pancreatic cancer, immunotherapy, bone-targeted treatment for tumour micrometastases, tumour dormancy/quiescence and late relapse, pathway-directed therapies such as mTOR and CDK4/6 inhibition, and selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs). He has been the principal investigator of many (N>30) clinical trials in these fields.
Disclosures: Professor Gnant holds advisory roles with Daiichi Sankyo, Lilly, and Menarini–Stemline. Professor Gnant has also been a speaker for AstraZeneca, MSD, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, and Veracyte. While Professor Gnant has no financial ties to the following organisations, he has disclosed association with Pfizer as a trial chair and to Sandoz through his spouse.
Dr Gregory Vidal, MD, PhD
Dr Gregory Vidal, MD, PhD, is a Medical Oncologist at West Cancer Center and Research Institute and Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr Vidal trained as a clinical researcher at the University of Stanford, taking part in research led by leading medical researchers. The aim of his research then, and now, is to discover and develop safe and effective treatments for breast cancer. Dr Vidal is the recipient of multiple awards and he has authored and co-authored numerous research articles in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology and Nature Communications.
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.
This content has been developed independently by Medthority who previously received educational funding from Eli Lilly in order to help provide its healthcare professional members with access to the highest quality medical and scientific information, education and associated relevant content.