Trastuzumab for metastatic breast cancer: Real world outcomes from an Australian whole-of-population cohort (2001–2016).

Abstract

Outcomes for patients treated in clinical trials may not reflect the experience in routine clinical care. We aim to describe the real-world treatment patterns and overall survival (OS) for women receiving trastuzumab for metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Retrospective, whole-of-population cohort study using demographic, dispensing, and medical services data for women in the Herceptin Program for HER2+MBC. We estimated time on trastuzumab and OS from first dispensing of trastuzumab for MBC and rates of cardiac monitoring prior to and during treatment. We stratified outcomes by two groups based on year of initiation: 2001–2008 and 2009–2015. We benchmarked outcomes to two key trastuzumab clinical trials: H0648g (median OS 25 months) and CLEOPATRA (control group median OS 41 months).