Exciting New Option For HR+, HER2- Breast Cancer Recurrence: With the Approval of Truqap, More Women Can Be Treated With Targeted Therapy

“It’s a really, really important drug [creating] new opportunities for patients with breast cancer,” says Doti. “One of the important parts of this is that we are expanding the number of patients that can be treated with targeted therapies in the second-line setting.”

“Hormone receptor positive” cancer means that the cancer needs the hormones estrogen and/or progesterone to grow. HER2 negative means that the breast cancer cells do not have high levels of the HER2 protein.

Determining the exact type of breast cancer a patient has can help doctors determine what is fueling the disease — and can help them narrow down the best way to treat it.

Who is eligible for Truqap?

With the FDA’s recent approval, Truqap can be used in combination with Faslodex (generic name: fulvestrant), a type of endocrine therapy (or hormone therapy), for patients with HR+, HER2- advanced breast cancer who have one or more biomarker alterations — PIK3CA, AKT1 or PTEN — as a second-line treatment.

The treatment is approved for patients who have both locally advanced or metastatic cancer (cancer which has spread to distant parts of the body).

A “second line” treatment is given after there is progression or recurrence after a first attempt at treatment.

The drug is taken orally, twice daily, four times a week (with three days off).

Before this approval, there were not a whole lot of options for these specific patients if their cancer continued to progress. However, Truqap “actually doubles the months in progression-free survival. So it’s really a good therapeutic option for those patients,” Dr. Doti explains.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.