What is a Tumor Agnostic Therapy?
In May 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first tumor/tissue agnostic therapy. These drugs are approved for use for any tumor that has a specific mutation, regardless of where the tumor started. Since then, two more tumor/tissue agnostic therapies have been approved. The drugs that have been approved are:
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), for metastatic cancers that have microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or DNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR). It is rare in breast cancer.
Larotrectinib (Vitrakvi®) and Entrectinib (Rozlytrek®), for metastatic cancers that have certain NTRK gene mutations. These mutations are found in about 2% of breast cancers.
Although these mutations aren’t common in breast cancer, more tumor/tissue agnostic therapies are in clinical trials which could potentially expand breast cancer treatment options.
Below you can learn more about the drugs that have been approved and how these tumor/tissue agnostic therapies are pushing the field of precision medicine forward. These drugs are often studied in basket trials, which enroll patients with many different types of cancer that all share a common mutation. You can read more about basket trials from BreastCancerTrials.org: All Open Basket Trials
Overview of Tumor Agnostic Therapy:
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- Cancer.net: Tumor Agnostic Treatment for Cancer: An Expert Perspective
- Targeted Oncology: Tumor Agnostic Treatments: A Changing Paradigm
- American Association of Cancer Research (AACR): Harnessing the Power of Precision Medicine with Tissue Agnostic Therapies
- Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation: For Cancer Patients, Mutations Matter
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Tumor Agnostic Therapies:
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- FDA: First Tissue Agnostic Drug–Keytruda– Approved
- Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC): Pembrolizumab
- Pharmacy Today: Second Tissue Agnostic Drug–Vitrakvi–Approved for Cancers with NTRK Mutation
- FDA: Third Tissue Agnostic Drug — Rozlytrek–Approved by the FDA
- Metastatic Trial Search: Find Open Basket Trials for Metastatic Breast Cancer
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