Highlights From the 2010 SABCS: The AZURE Phase III Trial

1. Highlights From the 2010 SABCS:The AZURE Phase III Trial Goal To evaluate whether the addition of zoledronic acid to standard adjuvant therapy had any effect on breast cancer recurrence in early-stage breast cancer Outcome There was no significant difference in disease-free survival among patients who did or did not receive zoledronic acid There was a trend toward a prolonged overall survival among zoledronic acid–treated patients, but it did not reach statistical significance A subgroup analysis found a significant improvement in disease-free survival among zoledronic acid–treated patients who were more than 5 years beyond menopause, and in overall survival among postmenopausal women

2. Highlights From the 2010 SABCS:The GeparQuinto Phase III Trial Goal To compare the 2 HER2-targeted agents trastuzumab and lapatinib when given with anthracycline and taxane-based chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting Outcome In a primary efficacy endpoint analysis, the pathologic complete response rate was higher in the trastuzumab arm compared with the lapatinib arm (31% vs 22%)

3. Highlights From the 2010 SABCS:The EMBRACE Phase III Trial Goal To evaluate the novel chemotherapeutic agent eribulin mesylate against treatment of physician’s choice (TPC) Outcome In a subset analysis of 325 patients from North America, western Europe, and Australia, median overall survival was significantly prolonged among eribulin-treated patients compared with TPC-treated patients The median PFS was also increased with eribulin, although the difference did not reach statistical significance

4. Highlights From the 2010 SABCS:The AVALUZ Phase II Trial Goal To evaluate bevacizumab in combination with paclitaxel and gemcitabine as first-line therapy Outcome The combination of bevacizumab with paclitaxel and gemcitabine was active as a first-line regimen in HER2-negative recurrent or metastatic breast cancer patients

5. Highlights From the 2010 SABCS:The TDM4373G Phase Ib/II Trial Goal To evaluate the safety and efficacy of trastuzumab-DM1 plus pertuzumab in HER2-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer Outcome An objective response of 34.8% was reported among patients with recurrent disease This rate increased to 57.1% among patients with previously untreated disease Most of the responses were partial, although 2.2% and 9.5% of patients with recurrent or previously untreated disease, respectively, achieved a complete response

6. Highlights From the 2010 SABCS:The SUCCESS Prospective, Phase III Trial Goal To evaluate the prognostic significance of CTCs in the patients participating in this trial Outcome Positive CTC detection compared with negative CTC detection was significantly associated with worse 3-year disease-free survival, worse 3-year distant disease-free survival, and worse 3-year overall survival The risk of poorer disease-free survival or overall survival increased with the higher numbers of CTCs found