Multinational phase 3 trial of tailored dose-dense versus standard adjuvant chemotherapy for high-risk early breast cancer: end-of-study results of PANTHER

Dr. Theodorus Foukakis

The phase 3 PANTHER trial, at 86 centers in 3 European countries, compared sequential epirubicin-cyclophosphamide and docetaxel once every 2 weeks (DD group) or once every 3 weeks (control group), with tailored dosing in the DD-group according to hematologic toxicity. End-of-study results have now been published, with median duration of follow-up of 10.3 years. Compared with the control group, the DD group had significantly better breast cancer recurrence-free survival, event-free survival, and distant disease-free survival, while the improvement in overall survival was not statistically significant. The authors conclude that PANTHER is the first trial to show the benefit of a dose-dense regimen over a control regimen containing docetaxel once every three weeks.