Margetuximab May Be Beneficial for Later-Line HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

Debu Tripathy, MD, professor, and chairman, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, discusses the role margetuximab (Margenza) will have in the field of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer now that it is approved by the FDA.

Tripathy says that the design of the agent is very interesting as it was created to augment and better interact with the immune system. This is a concept that has been thought of for a long time because the immune system plays an important role in how patients with HER2-positive breast cancer respond to therapy.

In preclinical models, margetuximab stood out from other IgG antibodies because it is engineered for the Fc portion of the antibody. Clinically, margetuximab was tested in humans in the phase in the phase 3 SOPHIA clinical trial (NCT02492711). The study showed did show that margetuximab is making a difference in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, Tripathy states. But the level of efficacy observed with the agent in SOPHIA warrant further follow-up.

Overall, Tripathy believes that margetuximab will serve a good purpose for patients withHER2-positive metastatic breast cancer in later-line settings.