Key clinical point: Pyrotinib+capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) vs. lapatinib+capecitabine with manageable toxicity in women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) after treatment with trastuzumab and taxanes.
Major finding: Median PFS was significantly longer in the pyrotinib+capecitabine vs. lapatinib+capecitabine group (12.5 vs. 6.8 months; hazard ratio, 0.39; one-sided P less than .0001). Serious adverse events were reported by 10% vs. 8% of patients in the pyrotinib vs. lapatinib group.
Study details : Findings are from an interim analysis of the phase 3 PHOEBE trial including 267 patients with HER2+ MBC previously treated with trastuzumab and taxanes randomly allocated to receive either pyrotinib+capecitabine (n=134) or lapatinib+capecitabine (n=132).
Disclosures: This study was funded by Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine and the National Key R&D Program of China. The lead author reported ties with Hengrui, Novartis, Roche, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Eisai. Some other investigators also reported employment or receiving grants and fees from various pharmaceutical companies including Hengrui.
Source: Xu B et al. Lancet Oncol. 2021 Feb 11. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30702-6 .