Real-world outcomes among patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer with brain metastases.

BACKGROUND: Among patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC), incidence of brain metastases (BMs) is relatively high and increasing. Despite the high unmet need for patients with HER2+ MBC and BMs, real-world data on treatment patterns and outcomes for these patients are limited. OBJECTIVE: To compare treatment patterns and overall survival (OS) among patients with HER2+ MBC with and without BMs in the United States. METHODS: This was a real-world retrospective cohort study in which adults diagnosed with HER2+ MBC between January 1, 2016, and May 31, 2019, were identified in the Flatiron Health electronic health records database. The cohort was stratified by presence of BMs at MBC diagnosis (baseline) and before the initiation of each line of therapy (LOT). Key outcomes were OS and systemic therapy/regimen used within each LOT. An adjusted Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the impact of BMs on OS. RESULTS: Of 1,755 included patients, 173 (9.9%) had BMs at baseline. Trastuzumab+ pertuzumab-based regimens were the most common first- (n = 689, 44.3%) and second-line (n = 316, 35.3%) treatments for all patients. Among patients with BMs, trastuzumab emtansine was the most common third-line regimen (n = 18, 23.4%). Lapatinib-based regimens were used more frequently among patients with BMs but were used by less than 20% of patients with BMs within any LOT. Median OS was 22.3 and 37.3 months for patients with and without BMs at baseline, respectively. Patients with BMs had a higher risk of death compared with patients without BMs (HR, 3.2; 95% CI = 2.6-3.8). CONCLUSIONS: BMs are associated with an increased risk of mortality among patients with HER2+ MBC. Further studies are needed to evaluate the extent to which novel systemic therapies for HER2+ MBC address the unmet need among patients with BMs. DISCLOSURES: This study was funded by Seagen Inc. Andres Forero-Torres is an employee of and owns stock in Seagen Inc. Kendra DeBusk is an employee of Seagen Inc. and owns stock in Seagen Inc. and Roche. Andy Surinach and Yutong Liu are employees of Genesis Research, which received funding from Seagen Inc. in connection with this study. At the time of this study, Chimeka Ike was an employee of Seagen Inc. and owns stock in Seagen Inc. At the time of this study, Nicolas Lindegger was an employee of Seagen Inc., Seagen International GmbH, and owns stock in Seagen Inc. and Roche. At the time of this study, Naomi Schwartz was a paid consultant to Seagen Inc.; she currently is an employee of and owns stock in Seagen Inc.