Conversation CLINICAL TRIALS Researchers in the TNBC Community are Feeling Hopeful About The New Treatment Option For Low HER2 Patients. BY KHAMAI SIMPSON MSC, ANCORA.AI PATIENT ENGAGEMENT MANAGER // MEDICAL REVIEW BY DR. CORINNE JORDAN 44 MY LIFE MATTERS TNBC PATIENT VOICES ISSUE 2022 SUMMARY OF THE TRASTUZUMAB DERUXTECAN TRIAL In June of 2022, groundbreaking results from a clinical trial were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago. These new findings may result in updates in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer that are especially important for Black women with breast cancer to be aware of. A medication, trastuzumab deruxtecan, developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo (brand name Enhertu) was shown to halt the growth of tumors by 49% compared to chemotherapy in patients with HER2-low metastatic or unresectable disease. Furthermore, the median overall survival of the patients in the trial treated with trastuzumab deruxtecan was improved by more than six months compared to patients receiving chemotherapy (Modi et al. 2022). While the recent clinical trial was not powered to evaluate treatment for triple-negative patients, specifically, it is a topic for future research and physicians will be looking into new treatment options for their triple-negative patients. Disclaimer: Trastuzumab deruxtecan is only approved by the FDA for HER2+ metastatic breast cancer and not yet approved in HER2-low patients (FDA 2022).http://www.ANCORA.AI