Some breast cancer patients could get at-home injection treatment just OK’d by the FDA
Some people with breast cancer will soon have an at-home treatment option, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
The FDA announced Tuesday it has approved an injection that can treat adults with HER2-positive breast cancer at home.
HER2-positive breast cancer makes up about one-fifth of breast cancer cases, according to the FDA. Most patients with that type of breast cancer currently get treatments at infusion centers, but the new injection called Phesgo — a combination of pertuzumab, trastuzumab and hyaluronidase–zzxf — could change that, the FDA said.
“With a new administration route, Phesgo offers an out-patient option for patients to receive trastuzumab and pertuzumab,” Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, said in a news release. “As part of the FDA’s ongoing commitment to address the novel coronavirus pandemic, we continue to keep a strong focus on patients with cancer who constitute a vulnerable population at risk of contracting the disease.”
A study of the at-home injection showed it had comparable efficacy and safety as other treatments, but Phesgo had more administration-related reactions, according to the FDA.
As with any drug, there are risks and side effects. The FDA said prescriptions will include a boxed warning on the “risk of potential heart failure, fetal harm and lung toxicity.” Patients could also have hair loss, nausea, anemia and a lack of energy from the injection.
“Patients should be selected based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic test,” the FDA said.
