Dr. Kimmick on the Results of the ATEMPT Trial in Early-Stage HER2+ Breast Cancer

Gretchen G. Kimmick, MD, MS, professor of medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, ​member, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the results of the phase 2 ATEMPT (NCT01853748) trial in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

The ATEMPT trial randomized patients with stage I HER2-positive breast cancer to ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) vs adjuvant paclitaxel plus trastuzumab (Herceptin; TH). Patients’ tumors were less than 2 centimeters and did not involve lymph nodes or only had micrometastasesin the lymph nodes, Kimmick explains.

The disease-free survival results of the trial were in favor of T-DM1, which offered another option for patients with early-stage breast cancer, Kimmick continues. However, clinically relevant toxicities were not decreased with T-DM1 vs TH; 17% of patients receiving T-DM1 discontinued before completion of treatment compared with 6% of patients with TH. Although T-DM1 could be considered as a therapeutic option for patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, data are needed to determine the clinical implications of early treatment discontinuation with the agent, Kimmick concludes.