Overall Survival Benefit Up for Pyrotinib + Capecitabine in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

THURSDAY, Nov. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic breast cancer, pyrotinib plus capecitabine offers an overall survival benefit, according to a study presented at the Advanced Breast Cancer Seventh International Consensus Conference, held from Nov. 9 to 11 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Binghe Xu, M.D., from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union University in Shanghai, and colleagues presented an updated analysis of overall survival from the PHOEBE trial after an additional two years of follow-up. Individuals had HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and had previously received trastuzumab and taxanes, with up to two prior lines of chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Patients were randomly assigned to receive oral pyrotinib 400 mg or lapatinib 1,250 mg once daily combined with oral capecitabine (134 and 132 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that as of data cutoff (March 15, 2023), 53.7 and 60.6 percent of patients in the pyrotinib and lapatinib groups, respectively, had died. The median overall survival was longer in the pyrotinib group than the lapatinib group (39.4 versus 28.6 months). The 36-month overall survival rate was 55.8 and 43.4 percent, respectively. In most protocol-prespecified subgroups, including patients without prior trastuzumab resistance, those with prior trastuzumab resistance, and patients without previous chemotherapy in the metastatic setting, the overall survival benefits of pyrotinib plus capecitabine over lapatinib plus capecitabine were observed.

"Pyrotinib plus capecitabine consistently shows a benefit to patients with HER2-positive metastatic disease in terms of progression-free and overall survival, irrespective of prior treatments," coauthor Xichun Hu, M.D., Ph.D., from the Fudan University Cancer Hospital in Shanghai, said in a statement.

Two of the authors disclosed employment to Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, which is developing pyrotinib and funded the study.

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