Not So Fast With Immune Therapy For Breast Cancer

Since I began writing here at Forbes, it’s become harder to keep up with new oncology drugs. So many medicines are being tested, who can keep track of them all?

Days ago, investigators reported results of a multinational trial of an immune drug, combined with chemotherapy, in patients with advanced triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form. Roche sponsored the study. Dr. Peter Schmid presented the findings at the annual ESMO meeting. Patients received nab-paclitaxel (a chemo agent sold as Abraxane, Celgene) with or without atezolizumab (a PDL-1 antibody approved for use in bladder and lung cancer, sold as Tecentriq, Genentech). The trial is called “Impassion130.”