NERATINIB AND DIARRHEA

J Clin Oncol. 2010 Feb 8. [Epub ahead of print]

Neratinib, an Irreversible ErbB Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor, in Patients With Advanced ErbB2-Positive Breast Cancer.

Burstein HJ, Sun Y, Dirix LY, Jiang Z, Paridaens R, Tan AR, Awada A, Ranade A, Jiao S, Schwartz G, Abbas R, Powell C, Turnbull K, Vermette J, Zacharchuk C, Badwe R.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA; Oncology Center AZ St Augustinus, Antwerp; UZ Gasthuisberg, Leuven; and Institut Jules Bordet, Brussels, Belgium; Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital; and The Hospital Affiliated Academy of Military Medical Science, Beijing, China; Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ; Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune; and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH; and Wyeth Research, Collegeville, PA and Cambridge, MA.

PURPOSE: Neratinib is an oral, irreversible pan-ErbB receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The efficacy and safety of neratinib were evaluated in two cohorts of patients with advanced ErbB2-positive breast cancer-those with and those without prior trastuzumab treatment-in an open-label, multicenter, phase II trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients in the two cohorts (prior trastuzumab, n = 66; no prior trastuzumab, n = 70) received oral neratinib 240 mg once daily. The primary end point was the 16-week progression-free survival (PFS) rate for the evaluable population (prior trastuzumab, n = 63; no prior trastuzumab, n = 64), as assessed by independent review. RESULTS: The 16-week PFS rates were 59% for patients with prior trastuzumab treatment and 78% for patients with no prior trastuzumab treatment. Median PFS was 22.3 and 39.6 weeks, respectively. Objective response rates were 24% among patients with prior trastuzumab treatment and 56% in the trastuzumab-naïve cohort. The most common adverse events were diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. Diarrhea was the most frequent grades 3 to 4 adverse event, occurring in 30% of patients with prior trastuzumab treatment and in 13% of patients with no prior trastuzumab treatment, which prompted dose reductions in 29% and 4% of patients, respectively, but treatment discontinuation in only one patient. No neratinib-related, grades 3 or 4 cardiotoxicity was reported. CONCLUSION: Oral neratinib showed substantial clinical activity and was reasonably well tolerated among both heavily pretreated and trastuzumab-naïve patients who had advanced, ErbB2-positive breast cancer. Diarrhea was the most common adverse effect but was manageable with antidiarrheal agents and dose modification.