It is the longest survival achieved so far for advanced stage breast cancer and allows us to talk about the real chronicization of the disease. This is demonstrated by the results of the final analysis on the overall survival of the Phase III Monaleesa-2 study, illustrated during the 2021 Congress of Esmo, the European Society of Medical Oncology. At the center of attention is a drug, ribociclib, used together with letrozole: a treatment that has been given to a particular group of postmenopausal women with advanced or metastatic breast cancer. The work showed that after 5 years, patients treated in this way had a more than 50% chance of survival compared to those taking letrozole alone. The data, explains Michelino De Laurentiis, director of the Department of Breast and Thoraco-Pulmonary Oncology of the National Cancer Institute Irccs Fondazione Pascale in Naples, are “very solid” and “confirm the efficacy of the therapy”. “There were already two studies with ribociclib conducted on different populations: Monaleesa-7 and Monaleesa-3 – he adds – the missing ‘piece’ was Monaleesa-2. Half of the patients were followed for at least 7 years. an experiment whose result is stable, definitive.
Ribociclib showed a 24% reduction in the risk of death, consistent with what has already been seen in the other two Monaleesa studies. Another data that confirms the validity of the drug is the median overall survival, equal to 63.9 months. It is the longest ever recorded in all types of breast cancer.
It means that half of the patients live more than 5 years “. For Pierfranco Conte, director of the Division of Medical Oncology 2 of the Venetian Oncological Institute of Padua,” another ‘number’ that measures the scope of the Monaleesa-2 study is that “, after 6 years of controls, “almost half of the women, 44%, are still alive.
They are data never seen with any treatment in this patient population – he adds – Italy has contributed in an important way to the whole program of studies “.
In 2020, about 55,000 new cases of advanced breast cancer were estimated in Italy and more than 37,000 are living with a diagnosis of metastatic disease. Saverio Cinieri, director of the Medical Oncology and Breast Unit of the ‘Perrino’ Hospital in Brindisi and president-elect of Aiom (Italian Association of Medical Oncology), underlines that “postmenopausal women represent about 70% of those with cancer endocrine-sensitive breasts and half of these correspond to the profile of the patients included in the study.
These important overall survival data with ribociclib are encouraging and allow us to state that the goal of chronicizing advanced disease has been achieved. “
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