ASCO 2018: Does Adjuvant Denosumab Improve Outcomes in Postmenopausal Women With Breast Cancer?
Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2018
The use of adjuvant denosumab in postmenopausal patients with breast cancer appears to improve the disease-free survival rate, according to ABCSG-18, a large European study featured at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 500). The investigators concluded that 60 mg of denosumab given subcutaneously every 6 months is recommended for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer who are receiving aromatase inhibitor therapy.
“The results show that disease-free survival is significantly improved. In fact, it’s an 18% relative improvement…, which translates into an absolute benefit in disease-free survival of 2% at 5 years and approximately 3% at 8 years follow-up,” shared lead researcher Michael Gnant, MD, of the Medical University of Vienna, with The ASCO Post. “This might appear to be a numerically modest benefit; however, in the field of adjuvant breast cancer trials, this compares quite well, for example, to aromatase inhibitors over tamoxifen.” At the end of the study, overall survival will be assessed.
ABCSG-18 included 3,425 patients who were randomized 1:1 to receive either 60 mg of denosumab or a placebo every 6 months while continuing aromatase inhibitor treatment throughout the double-blind, phase III trial. The disease-free survival rate at follow-up for the denosumab group was 89.2% at 5 years and 80.6% at 8 years, compared with 87.3% at 5 years and 77.5% at 8 years for the group taking the placebo. The median follow-up was 72 months. Furthermore, the study previously found a significant reduction in bone fractures for the patients treated with denosumab, as aromatase inhibitor therapy has been linked to osteoporosis.
