Expert Discusses Updates in Thyroid Cancer

Targeted therapy approvals in the last 10 years have changed the way oncology professionals treat patients with thyroid cancer, according to Marcia Brose, MD, PhD.

Brose, an associate professor of medicine and director of the Thyroid Cancer Therapeutics program at Penn Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, had the chance to speak with OncLive^®, a sister publication to Oncology Nursing News^®, on the important updates in thyroid cancer. Brose also discussed the different treatment options in thyroid cancer after the use of targeted therapies.

TRANSCRIPTION

It's been an amazing last 10 years for thyroid cancer because we've had basically multiple FDA approvals, mostly with targeted therapies. So, after that, we also needed additional therapies because when those stopped working patients need other options. The big story in thyroid cancer is also a big story in other cancers.

And the first is the fact that track inhibitors actually play a role in thyroid cancer, maybe more significant than other cancers, because track fusion cancers are found anywhere up to 5 or maybe even a little bit more of differentiated thyroid cancer patients who are refractory to radioactive iodine. When that got approved, that's actually been a big positive thing for our patients because now we actually have options where patients have good therapeutic responses with very, very little side effects. A really good side effect profile.