Update Breast Cancer 2017 – Implementation of Novel Therapies

In recent years, numerous new therapy options for patients with breast cancer have been developed in clinical studies, with some options already approved for routine treatment. As the speed at which innovations are introduced increases, the importance of conferences also increases, as conferences are where the data underpinning new therapies are usually presented for the first time. This review looks at publications of the ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) and ESMO (European Society of Medical Oncology) conferences in 2017, summarizes them and evaluates them in the context of existing data. The focus is on new insights for neoadjuvant therapy and new treatment options in the metastatic setting, such as the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors or PARP inhibitors. The first results of treatments with checkpoint inhibitors are presented. With the patent expiry of trastuzumab, a number of study results for trastuzumab biosimilars have also been published. The digitization of patient care provides the first results on quality of life and prognosis of patients with advanced cancer. Digital communications between patients and physicians are being evaluated in several studies in Germany. As the discussion about patient-relevant endpoints for patients in the metastatic setting continues, overall survival rates from studies of big endocrine-based therapies are urgently needed. Preliminary analyses of small study cohorts offer initial insights. In the context of improving patient care, in the coming years, questions will center on which patients particularly benefit from certain therapies and which patients need particular protection from specific side effects. Questions about these predictors are raised in many scientific projects as attention increasingly focuses on this topic.