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| Image courtesy of the Talazoparib Beyond BRCA (TBB) Trial |
Talazoparib is an investigational anticancer drug called a PARP (poly ADP ribose polymerase) inhibitor, which is being evaluated in breast cancer patients with BRCA gene mutations, as well as other cancer types. The international study was led by Jennifer Litton, MD at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and published in the Aug. 15, 2018 New England Journal of Medicine.
In the study 431 patients with locally advanced, and metastatic breast cancer that stemmed from mutations in the BRACA genes, and were HER2 negative were randomly assigned to receive Talazoparib or the standard treatment recommended by the patients’ oncologists. The randomization was done in a 2 to 1 ratio with twice as many assigned to Talazoparib resulting in 287 patients in the Talazoparib group and 144 in the standard therapy group.
The median time the cancer was halted, or did not progress was 8.6 months for the Talazoparib group compared to 5.6 months for the usual care group. In addition, 62.6 percent of the Talazoparib group saw their tumors shrink compared to 27.2 percent in the usual treatment group. Patients also reported better quality of life with 24.3 months of feeling better before they felt they were deteriorating compared to 6.3 months for the standard treatment patients. Overall survival rates will need more time to determine and were not reported in this study.
It is important to note that 5 to 10 percent of all breast cancers are related to mutations in the BRACA genes. In addition patients with HER-2 positive were excluded from this study because there are approved targeted therapies for those cancers.
In the study 431 patients with locally advanced, and metastatic breast cancer that stemmed from mutations in the BRACA genes, and were HER2 negative were randomly assigned to receive Talazoparib or the standard treatment recommended by the patients’ oncologists. The randomization was done in a 2 to 1 ratio with twice as many assigned to Talazoparib resulting in 287 patients in the Talazoparib group and 144 in the standard therapy group.
The median time the cancer was halted, or did not progress was 8.6 months for the Talazoparib group compared to 5.6 months for the usual care group. In addition, 62.6 percent of the Talazoparib group saw their tumors shrink compared to 27.2 percent in the usual treatment group. Patients also reported better quality of life with 24.3 months of feeling better before they felt they were deteriorating compared to 6.3 months for the standard treatment patients. Overall survival rates will need more time to determine and were not reported in this study.
It is important to note that 5 to 10 percent of all breast cancers are related to mutations in the BRACA genes. In addition patients with HER-2 positive were excluded from this study because there are approved targeted therapies for those cancers.
All of this information is greatly appreciated. Thanks for sharing. A friend of mine was also talking about some symptoms of cancer and she was a bit skeptical about having it so I have suggested her to go for proper checkups before it gets late. In a day or two, she would be visiting the best intensive case management center for the checkup. I hope everything will be fine with her.
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