Trastuzumab Deruxtecan Significantly Outperforms Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Advanced Breast Cancer

Newswise — A new study published in NEJM and led by global principal investigator Aditya Bardia, MD, director of Translational Research Integration at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, found trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), an antibody-drug conjugate, significantly improves progression-free survival compared to standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already undergone hormone-based therapies. The study included 866 patients and researchers found that the drug extended progression-free survival to 13.2 months, compared to 8.1 months for patients on the chemotherapy arm. Trastuzumab deruxtecan, builds on trastuzumab backbone linking the HER2 antibody with a powerful chemotherapy agent, allowing it to deliver cancer-killing drugs preferentially to the tumor cells compared to normal cells. While the drug was previously approved for use in later-line setting for patients with HER2-low tumors, this study shows T-DXd could be used earlier instead of chemotherapy in a broader patient population with advanced breast cancer, leading to potential change in clinical practice. Read the full study in the New England Journal of Medicine.