Key clinical point: Pyrotinib plus chemotherapy outperformed lapatinib plus chemotherapy in terms of improving survival outcomes in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer (BC) but showed a worse toxicity profile.
Major finding: Progression-free survival was significantly improved with pyrotinib vs lapatinib in patients who had received prior trastuzumab therapy (hazard ratio [HR] 0.47; P < .001) and those with trastuzumab resistance (HR 0.52; P < .001). However, the incidence of grade ≥3 diarrhea was higher with pyrotinib vs lapatinib (risk ratio 2.68; P < .001).
Study details: Findings are from a meta-analysis of five studies including 843 patients with metastatic BC who received chemotherapy with pyrotinib (n = 392) or lapatinib (n = 451).
Disclosures: This study did not receive any funding. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Yuan Y et al. Pyrotinib versus lapatinib therapy for HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer patients after first-line treatment failure: A meta-analysis and systematic review. PLoS One. 2023;18(1):e0279775 (Jan 5). Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279775