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Upfront exemestane, tamoxifen/exemestane equal for HR-positive breast cancer
Treatment arms in TEAM trial produced nearly identical results.
San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Upfront use of the aromatase inhibitor exemestane alone or the use of tamoxifen followed by exemestane both appear to be viable treatment options for postmenopausal women with endocrine-sensitive breast cancer, according to the results of the TEAM trial.
Disease-free survival and OS were almost indistinguishable in the intent-to-treat population, said Daniel Rea, MD, senior lecturer in medical oncology at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. He presented phase-3 results from the TEAM trial at the CTCR-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
“The TEAM trial did not show a difference in efficacy after five years of upfront treatment with exemestane compared to tamoxifen followed by exemestane in terms of DFS, time-to-recurrence or OS,” he said. “The TEAM trial translational program may help us identify populations who could benefit more from one strategy over the other.”
Researchers randomly assigned 9,775 postmenopausal women with HR-positive early breast cancer to 25 mg daily exemestane or 20 mg daily tamoxifen. After 2.5 years to three years, women initially assigned to tamoxifen were switched to exemestane. All patients had undergone surgery with curative intent for invasive breast cancer.
Five-year DFS in the tamoxifen group was 85.4% compared with 85.7% in the exemestane group (HR=0.97; 95% CI, 0.88–1.08). Five-year OS was 90.6% in the tamoxifen group compared with 90.5% in the exemestane group (HR=1.00; 95%CI, 0.89–1.14).
Rea said adverse events were consistent with the known safety profiles for both drugs. –by Jason Harris
For more information:
- Rea D. #11. Presented at: the 2009 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; Dec. 8-12, 2009; San Antonio, Texas.
