Dr. Bardia on Efficacy With Atezolizumab Combos in Metastatic TNBC

Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, director of Precision Medicine at the Center for Breast Cancer and founding director of the Molecular and Precision Medicine Metastatic Breast Cancer Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, discusses efficacy with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) combinations in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). 

The phase 3 IMpassion130 trial (NCT02425891) was the first of its kind to examine an immunotherapy agent in patients with metastatic TNBC; data from the trial led to the FDA approval of atezolizumab in March 2019, according to Bardia. The trial examined the combination of nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) and atezolizumab vs single-agent nab-paclitaxel, and the doublet demonstrated an improvement in both progression-free survival and overall survival in those with PD-1–positive disease, Bardia says.

Similarly, IMpassion131 examined atezolizumab plus paclitaxel in this population; however, this combination did not yield an improvement in PFS or OS, Bardia explains. These data prompted the FDA to issue a warning that atezolizumab should be used in combination with nab-paclitaxel, not paclitaxel, as the chemotherapy backbone, Bardia concludes.