Linda T. Vahdat, MD, Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Attending Physician, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, discusses the phase II randomized trial that compared the incidence of peripheral neuropathy between eribulin mesylate (Halaven) and ixabepilone (Ixempra) in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

The study found that the development of any type of neuropathy was similar in both arms of the trial, however the eribulin arm of the trial was 15% less likely to develop peripheral neuropathy. Vahdat remarks that the most striking aspect of the trial was that the ixabepilone arm developed neuropathy sooner than the eribulin arm.

The trial initially sought to discover resolution data for peripheral neuropathy but wasn’t able to complete this goal because of the last-line nature of the patient population.