Understanding Patient Perspective on Oral Breast Cancer Treatments
In support of Clinical Care Options, LLC’ s medical education program, Smarter. Stronger. Together: Educating Providers and Patients to Optimize the Use of Targeted Oral Therapies for HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer, members of the Smart Patients breast cancer communities were asked via an online patient survey how they felt about novel oral breast cancer treatments.
Understanding Patient Perspective on Oral Breast Cancer Treatments
Dr. Joyce O'Shaughnessy is the Co-Chair of Breast Cancer Research and Chair of Breast Cancer Prevention Research at Baylor-Sammons Cancer Center and for The US Oncology Network and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for US Oncology Research Network. Here, she shares her thoughts about the patient perspective on targeted oral therapies for HR+/HER2- breast cancer.
What are the key factors that patients consider when choosing oral breast cancer treatment?
Breast cancer patients were asked about four main attributes of current oral therapies for HER2-/HR+ breast cancer: side effects and associated toxicity, number of pills and frequency of dosing, convenience, treatment breaks.
A clear message came from the patients about oral therapies. If efficacy is king and toxicity is queen, then all other factors are secondary.
Patient Reaction to CDK4/6 Inhibitors
Given that all three CDK4/6 inhibitors (palbociclib, ribociclib and abemaciclib) have demonstrated similar efficacy, the biggest factor for patients is the differences in each drug’s unique side-effect profile. Patients pick palbociclib as their first choice given its lowest toxicity profile.
What do Breast Cancer Patients Ask their Care team?
Here are some questions breast cancer patients recommended that engaged and informed patients ask their clinical care team when deliberating on the risks and benefits of new treatments, like oral therapies.
Download Resources
HCP and Patient Resource for Treatment Decision
You may find this guide useful in educating care teams and clinicians on patient preferences in treatment decision making: Understanding Patient Perspective on Oral Breast Cancer Treatments
Patient Preference Survey Tool
Download the Patient Preference Survey Tool below to learn more about your patients’ preferences in care decisions (adapted from Rocques publication).
Understanding Patient Perspectives
Download our infographic on patient perspectives on oral breast cancer treatments.