Sacituzumab for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer: the poster child of future therapy?

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer that disproportionately impacts younger women and is associated with a poor prognosis. Systemic treatment options for metastatic TNBC (mTNBC) are limited to cytotoxic chemotherapy agents with low response rates. This encouraged the clinical development of sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132), an antibody-drug conjugate targeting Trop-2, a potential target in epithelial cancer such as TNBC. Areas covered: We summarize the key features, pharmacokinetics, and the safety and efficacy data of sacituzumab govitecan. We also discuss the future directions of this novel therapeutic agent for mTNBC. Expert opinion: Based on the efficacy and tolerability observed in the phase 1/2 clinical trial, sacituzumab govitecan was granted breakthrough therapy designation by the Food and Drug Administration as ≥3