Dr. Kalinsky on Neratinib and Tucatinib in HER2+ Metastatic Breast Cancer

Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS, assistant professor of medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical School, discusses the potential of neratinib (Nerlynx) and tucatinib in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Data from the TBCRC 022 trial, Kalinsky says, suggested that patients demonstrated responses under single-agent neratinib. There was also a randomized phase III study looking at frontline paclitaxel and trastuzumab (Herceptin) versus paclitaxel and neratinib. Risk of metastases progression was half for patients under the neratinib and paclitaxel arm compared with trastuzumab and paclitaxel, Kalinsky says.

Tucatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is specific to HER2-targeted therapy, is another emerging agent with some interesting data, Kalinsky adds. The ongoing HER2CLIMB study is testing the drug in a triplet combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine (Xeloda).