Truqap Approval: Hugely Needed New Option For Recurrence
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug called Truqap (generic name: capivasertib) for certain patients with HR+, HER2- breast cancer.
- The approval is another major step when it comes to treating advanced breast cancer with targeted therapy.
- With the new approval, Truqap can be used in combination with Faslodex (generic name: fulvestrant), a type of endocrine therapy, for patients with HR+, HER2- advanced breast cancer that has specific genetic alterations.
- The drug is taken orally four times a week (with three days off).
First the news. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved a drug called Truqap (generic name: capivasertib) for certain women with hormone receptor positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor negative (HER2-) breast cancer. The approval is another major step for targeted, hopefully more effective therapies in the breast cancer field.
Read MoreWho is eligible for Truqap?
With the FDA’s recent approval, Truqap can be used in combination with Faslodex (generic name: fulvestrant), a type of endocrine therapy (or hormone therapy), for patients with HR+, HER2- advanced breast cancer who have one or more biomarker alterations — PIK3CA, AKT1 or PTEN — as a second-line treatment.
The treatment is approved for patients who have both locally advanced or metastatic cancer (cancer which has spread to distant parts of the body).
A “second line” treatment is given after there is progression or recurrence after a first attempt at treatment.
The drug is taken orally, twice daily, four times a week (with three days off).
Before this approval, there were not a whole lot of options for these specific patients if their cancer continued to progress. However, Truqap “actually doubles the months in progression-free survival. So it’s really a good therapeutic option for those patients,” Dr. Doti explains.
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