ESMO 2021—my top three abstracts in breast cancer

The congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) that recently took place virtually was marked by highlights in many different cancer types. New therapeutic options especially in metastatic breast cancer will hopefully bring a longer life to thousands of patients all over the world. These include new antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) and checkpoint inhibitors as well as cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/6 inhibitors prolonging overall survival. In Her2-positive advanced breast cancer trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) compared to trastuzumab emtansine showed a superior benefit in progression-free survival (PFS) in patients who received at least one prior therapy line in the metastatic setting. In the first-line treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, an overall survival (OS) benefit of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone was confirmed for patients with a combined positive score (CPS) ≥ 10. Final results of MONALESSA‑2 demonstrated a great OS benefit for the cyclin dependent kinase (CDK)4/6 inhibitor ribociclib plus endocrine therapy as first-line treatment of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, Her2-negative breast cancer.