Key clinical point: Switch to maintenance endocrine therapy (ET)+bevacizumab with an option of reinduction may be a better alternative to continuing weekly paclitaxel+bevacizumab in patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative ( HER2−) advanced/metastatic breast cancer (BC) who responded to paclitaxel+bevacizumab.
Major finding: After a median follow-up of 21.3 months, the time to failure of the strategy was longer with ET+bevacizumab vs weekly paclitaxel+bevacizumab among all induction chemotherapy responders (hazard ratio 0.51; log-rank P = .0006). The incidence of grade 3-5 adverse events was 10% lower in the ET+bevacizumab group.
Study details : Findings are from the phase 2, BOOSTER trial including 160 chemotherapy naive patients with ER+/HER2− advanced/metastatic BC who responded to weekly paclitaxel+bevacizumab induction, and were randomly assigned to continue paclitaxel+bevacizumab or switch to ET+bevacizumab.
Disclosures: This study was funded by Chugai Pharmaceutical. Some authors declared contracting clinical trials, serving as board members, or receiving institutional grants, honoraria, or personal fees from several sources.
Source: Saji S et al. Switch maintenance endocrine therapy plus bevacizumab after bevacizumab plus paclitaxel in advanced or metastatic oestrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer (BOOSTER): A randomised, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2022;23(5):636-649 (Apr 8). Doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(22)00196-6