Dr. Dang on Cardiac Safety With Pertuzumab/Trastuzumab in Early-Stage HER2+ Breast Cancer

Chau T. Dang, MD, the Regional Care Network Medical Site Director at Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester, discusses the safety profile of pertuzumab (Perjeta) plus trastuzumab (Herceptin) in patients with HER2-positive locally advanced, inflammatory, or early-stage breast cancer. 

The 5-year results from the final analysis of the phase 2 BERENICE trial (NCT02132949), which were presented during the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2021, showed that in cohort A of the study, in which patients were treated with standard anthracycline-based chemotherapy followed by pertuzumab/trastuzumab and paclitaxel, incidence of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III/IV heart failure was 1.5% in the neoadjuvant setting, Dang says.

Additionally, in cohort B, where patients received treatment with 5-fluorouracil/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel and pertuzumab/trastuzumab, no incidence of NYHA class III/IV heart failure was reported, Dang notes. 

The study followed patients through to the treatment-free follow-up period to report events after the neoadjuvant setting, Dang explains. For cohort A, no additional cardiac events were reported after the neoadjuvant phase, keeping the rate of NYHA class III/IV heart failure at 1.5%. In cohort B, 1 cardiac event was reported in the adjuvant setting, and 1 during the treatment-free follow-up period, which brought the NYHA class III/IV heart failure rate to 1%, Dang concludes.