What doctors tried next after one breast cancer drug stopped working
Original title: Tucatinib, trastuzumab, and capecitabine as second- or third-line therapy after trastuzumab deruxtecan in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: A multicenter retrospective study in France.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
Doctors looked back at care people already had, not a new trial.
The short version
Doctors looked at a mix of three drugs given after another drug stopped helping.
What was studied. Doctors looked back at 105 people with HER2-positive breast cancer that had spread. All took a mix of three drugs after a drug called T-DXd.
What they found. Tumors shrank in 29.6% of the people who could be measured. In 9.2%, the cancer was no longer seen on scans. The usual time before the cancer grew again was 4.7 months. People who had done well on T-DXd for more than 18 months went longer, 6.0 months instead of 3.8 months.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This mix may give some extra time after T-DXd stops working. It could be one option to ask your doctor about. The help was modest, and it did not last long for everyone.
What it doesn't mean: This was not a trial. Doctors read old charts, so the results are less certain. It does not show that this mix is better than other choices. It is not a promise of more time, and it is not a cure.
Source: PubMed, September 29, 2026 · Read the original
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