Real‐world treatment patterns among patients diagnosed with hormone receptor‐positive metastatic breast cancer in the USA

Aims Clinical guidelines for breast cancer management have evolved in the past decade. However, limited evidence exists regarding uptake of novel drug classes in management of hormone receptor‐positive (HR+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in the USA and whether disparities exist by race and ethnicity. Methods Using SEER‐Medicare databases, we identified 4404 women aged ≥66 years diagnosed with HR+ de novo MBC (dnMBC) between 2010 and 2019. Age‐standardized rates for receipt of first‐line treatment were calculated. Age‐adjusted rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Poisson regression to compare rates among non‐Hispanic Black (NHB) and Hispanic patients with non‐Hispanic White (NHW) patients. Results Among patients with HR+/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2‐negative (HER2−) dnMBC after 2015, 48.6% received first‐line treatment with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and 22.8% with AIs plus cyclin‐dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors. Rates for AIs + CDK4/6 inhibitors increased (per 1000 person‐years: 262.2 in 2015; 452.8 in 2019). Compared with NHW, NHB (RR 95% CI%: 0.87 0.63–1.21) and Hispanic patients (RR 95% CI%: 0.74 0.51–1.08) were less likely to receive AIs + CDK4/6 inhibitors. For HR+/HER2+ dnMBC, 29.7% of patients received pertuzumab, 23.1% with AIs and 10.8% with AIs + trastuzumab. Rates for pertuzumab increased, while rates for trastuzumab monotherapy declined. Compared with NHW, NHB and Hispanic women were less likely to receive anti‐HER therapy (RR 95% CI: 0.51 0.35–0.73 and 0.58 0.39–0.86). Conclusion There is a temporal increase in first‐line treatment with AIs + CDK4/6 inhibitors and pertuzumab in dnMBC in the USA but with significant disparities by race and ethnicity.