Lilly Launches Campaign to Educate Early Breast Cancer Patients

Eli Lilly and Company recently launched an education campaign to educate, support, connect, and empower people diagnosed with early breast cancer (EBC) with a high risk of recurrence.

The campaign, iIn collaboration with Breastcancer.org, For the Breast of Us, Living Beyond Cancer, and Susan G. Komen, the campaign provides educational materials and other resources for individuals with HR+, HER2, EBC, and their care partners to better understand the complexity of the disease, including the risk of recurrence.

A digital fact sheet, patient conversion guide, and infographic explain the clinical characteristics associated with an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence and provide tools in planning treatment.

“When people are diagnosed with early breast cancer, the initial focus is understandably on selecting and undergoing treatment that will prevent or delay cancer recurrence,” Stacy Moulder, MD, senior medical director of Lilly Oncology, said in the announcement.

“However, the risk of developing recurrence may be difficult to comprehend and patients can benefit from additional resources to help understand or augment the information provided by their doctors,” Moulder continued.

Over 290,650 women and 2,710 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the US this year. According to Eli Lilly, explained that most people are at risk of recurrence, so and understanding these risk factors is critical.  

EBC is cancer that has not spread beyond the breast or underarm lymph nodes. Most EBC is treatable and does not return. The most common subtypes of EBC are hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER+). Both of these cancers are highly treatable due to the availability of targeted therapies.

Jean Sachs, CEO of Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC), emphasized that the risk of breast cancer coming back or progressing to metastatic disease is not part of the care team discussion as people navigate diagnosis, treatment, and care.

“We believe patients benefit from open conversations about breast cancer recurrence,” Sachs said.

In October 2021, FDA approved Eli Lilly and Company’s Verzenio to treat adult patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2), EBC.  

The agency approved the drug combined with endocrine therapy for patients with EBC at high risk of recurrence and a Ki-67 score of less than 20 percent. Ki-67 is a marker of cellular proliferation.

Verzenio is currently the first and only CDK4/6 inhibitor approved for this patient population.