Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO

Commenting on Dr. DeMichele’s poster presentation at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, told The ASCO Post: “Randomized clinical trials are the ‘gold standard’ for defining treatment options, but we often wonder, how do the treatments recommended by studies play out in the real world? These data from a large electronic health record database suggest that, in regular patients [with advanced breast cancer], the benefits of palbociclib are as substantial as seen in the clinical trial. This is a valuable ‘real world’ confirmation of what has become our standard practice and speaks to the importance of this drug for women with advanced breast cancer.”

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Burstein reported no conflicts of interest.