Addition of fulvestrant prolonged progression-free survival by 1.5 months and overall survival by 6 months compared with monotherapy in the trial, for which results have since been published (N. Engl. J. Med. 2012;367:435-44 [doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1201622]).
Interestingly, the dose of fulvestrant (500 mg on day 1 and 250 mg on days 14 and 28 and monthly thereafter) was below the current standard. In 2010, the FDA approved a dose of 500 mg per month based on a different study: the CONFIRM trial, for which investigators are to present a final overall survival analysis in the first general session at SABCS 2012 (General session 1, S1-4).
Also of note, investigators from France will present the first results of the randomized phase II Unicancer CARMINA 02 trial, which compares fulvestrant and anastrozole in the neoadjuvant setting among postmenopausal women with operable stage II or III breast cancer that is estrogen receptorpositive (Poster discussion session 7, PD07-04).
* This story was updated on 11/30/2012.