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The content of this website has been produced in line with the IBRANCE® Summary of Product Characteristics. IBRANCE® (palbociclib) Prescribing Information for the UK click here. Adverse event reporting information can be found at the bottom of the page.
Duration of treatment analysis
STUDY OBJECTIVE
To understand treatment durations, discontinuation rates, subsequent treatments, and treatment switches in patients with HR+/HER2- mBC receiving 1L palbociclib, ribociclib or abemaciclib in combination with an AI in US routine clinical practice.1
STUDY DESIGN
*1L CDK4/6i treatment duration was defined as the time from the start of the specific CDK4/6i to discontinuation of treatment or death during the 1L. Patient data were derived from the Flatiron Health US real-world oncology database of de-identified, longitudinal electronic health record data from >800 sites of care, including >721,000 patients with breast cancer.1-3
†Subsequent treatment was defined as a change in systemic therapy triggering a line advancement, with the exception of changes in AI (i.e., a change from one AI to another did not trigger a line advancement). Subsequent treatments for mBC were examined in patients who started 1L treatment in 2017 onward, when the three CDK4/6is were all approved in the US.
‡CDK4/6i switching was defined as changing CDK4/6i with or without changing the AI partner.
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS
After sIPTW, baseline demographics and clinical characteristics were generally balanced between the palbociclib, ribociclib and abemaciclib groups*1
*The balance in these baseline characteristics was assessed using a standardised mean differences approach, with values ≥0.1 indicating a non-negligible imbalance.1 Standard difference data not shown. More patients were eligible for the palbociclib cohort, as palbociclib was the first CDK4/6i approved in the US (in 2015), followed by ribociclib (in 2017) and abemaciclib (in 2018).1, 4-6
†Visceral disease is defined as metastatic disease in the lung and/or liver. Patients could have had other sites of metastases.1
‡Bone-only disease is defined as metastatic disease in the bone only.1
RESULTS: Treatment duration and discontinuation rates
*1L CDK4/6i treatment duration was defined as the time from the start of the specific CDK4/6i to discontinuation of treatment or death during the 1L. Treatment durations were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate HRs and corresponding 95% CIs. Patients were censored at the earlier of their last medical activity or data cut-off if they were alive and had not experienced treatment discontinuation. Patient cohort included those initiated on treatment from 2015–2024.
†Descriptive statistical analysis only
1L, first-line; Al, aromatase inhibitor; CDK4/6, cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6; DOT, duration of treatment; HER2-, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative; HR+, hormone receptor- positive; mBC, metastatic breast cancer; KM, Kaplan-Meier; US, United States; ECOG PS, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status; IQR, interquartile range; SD, standard deviation; sIPTW, stabilised inversed probability of treatment weighting; HR, hazard ratio; PAL, palbociclib; RIB, ribociclib; ABE, abemaciclib.
References
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PP-UNP-GBR-13971. December 2025