A study looking at eribulin for advanced breast cancer

This was a phase 4 study. 76 women took part in this observational study .

The information the team looked at was:

• any side effects they had
• how bad the side effects were
• whether they stopped taking eribulin and why
• how they were doing

Side effects
Of the 76 women, 75 had at least 1 side effect. The most common side effects were:

• tiredness (fatigue)
• hair loss
• feeling or being sick
• constipation or diarrhoea
• nerve damage causing pain, numbness, tingling (peripheral neuropathy)
• loss of appetite
• shortness of breath 
• headache
• a drop in white blood cells called neutrophils
• high temperature
• inflammation of the mouth and other parts of the digestive system
• sore muscles
• cough
• red and peeling skin of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet (hand foot syndrome)

Of the 76 women, 42 had severe side effects. The most common severe side effects were:

• a drop in the white blood cells called neutrophils
• a drop in the neutrophils with a high temperature
• shortness of breath
• fluid around the lungs 

We have more information about the side effects of eribulin in our Cancer drugs section. 

How many women had their dose changed or stopped due to side effects
The team found that:

• 32 women had their eribulin stopped for a little while. They started it again after the side effect had got better. 
• 24 women had their dose changed to a lower dose
• 7 women stopped taking eribulin

How well eribulin worked
The team looked at how well it worked for the 76 women. They were only able to look at 59 of them. They were unable to find out for the others. 

For the 59 women, they found that for:

• 2 women there was no sign of their cancer
• 12 women their cancer had shrunk
• 21 women their cancer stayed the same
• 24 women their cancer had got worse

How well eribulin worked for triple negative breast cancer
Of the 76 women, 17 had triple negative breast cancer . The team looked at how well treatment worked for them. They found that for:

• 2 women there was no sign of their cancer
• 2 women their cancer had shrunk
• 4 women their cancer stayed the same
• 6 women their cancer had got worse

For 3 women they were unable to find out how well it worked.

How long before the cancer got worse 
The study team looked at how long it was before the cancer started to grow again. Researchers call this time to progression, and it gives the middle time the treatment works. They found it was 4 months. So for half of the people the treatment worked for less than 4 months. And for the other half it worked for longer than 4 months.

How long the women lived 
They also looked at how long people lived. In particular, they looked at something called the median overall survival. This means the point at which half the people taking part were living. And when half had died. They found it was 8.3 months. 

Conclusion
The team concluded that eribulin was well tolerated. They also said it worked well in the real-world clinical practice. These results were similar to the results of phase 3 clinical trials of eribulin for breast cancer.

More detailed information
There is more information about this research in the reference below. 

Please note, the information we link to here is not in plain English. It has been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Eribulin for the treatment of advanced breast cancer: A prospective observational registry study
L Kenny and others
European Journal of Cancer Care, 2022. Volume 31, issue 6, pages 1 to 7.

Where this information comes from    
We have based this summary on the information in the article above. This has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. We have not analysed the data ourselves. As far as we are aware, the link we list above is active and the article is free and available to view.