Dr. Marcom Reflects on Field of HR+ Breast Cancer

Paul Kelly Marcom, MD, associate professor of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses how the field of hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer has evolved in an interview during the 2016 OncLive State of the Science Summit on Metastatic Breast Cancer.

This has clearly been an area that has exploded over the last 5 years due to the developments of targeted therapies in combination with standard endocrine therapy, which has been translated into significant clinical benefit for patients, Marcom explains. The approval of everolimus (Afinitor) marked a step forward in the disease; however, with developments of CDK 4/6 inhibitors, such as palbociclib (Ibrance), there has been even more improved outcomes.

These advancements point to a different part of the biology of breast cancer, he adds. Next steps will involve exploring unique combinations and researching how to sequence them, he adds.