RICHMOND, Va. — A unique drug is making headlines after an international breast cancer trial.
“They had remarkable responses,” Dr. Hetal Vachhani, a breast oncologist at VCU Massey Cancer Center, said.
Enhertu is a combination drug delivering chemotherapy directly to cancer cells.
“What happens is they have an antibody that conjugates with a chemotherapy drug,” said Vachhani.
The one infusion drug goes into the body and finds its target.
“The antibody links onto that target and the whole molecule is internalized inside the cell," Vachhani explained. "Once it’s internalized, it kills the cell from within."
And here’s what makes Enhertu unique.
“Once that cell dies, kind of killing the surrounding tissue. The whole idea is yes, we’re delivering the drug to the cancer cells, but trying to minimize toxicity to other normal cells,” Vachhani said.
Enhertu is already FDA approved for patients with metastatic or incurable HER2-positive breast cancer.
“It worked for these patients. Keeping their cancers under control and causing shrinkage. Keeping people alive with their cancers longer,” Vachhani said.
However, the global trial looked to see if Enhertu would work on even more women — patients whose breast cancers were HER2-low and either inoperable or had spread to other organs. HER2-low makes up about 55% of breast cancer patients.
“We're really excited about this trial. It's a novel drug,” said Vachhani.
Vachhani is leading a separate trial using the same Enhertu drug. However, Massey's trial will look to see if high risk, HER2-positive patients who failed standard chemotherapy can get to remission.
“Those are the patients we want to see if this drug will give them that home run result,” explained Vachhani.
The Enhertu trial is going on now at Massey. If you’re interested in learning more about the trial enrollment, contact Nurse Coordinator Kenera Fisher at kfisher22@vcu.edu.
On the 6th of the month, CBS 6 and VCU Massey Cancer Center remind women to contact their buddy to remind them to conduct a monthly breast self-exam. If it is time, you should also schedule an annual clinical breast exam and mammogram, which are key to early detection.
