Trastuzumab deruxtecan in HER2-positive advanced colorectal cancer: a plain language summary of the DESTINY-CRC02 study

Plain Language Summary: What is this summary about? This summary is about the DESTINY-CRC02 study, published in The Lancet Oncology in August 2024. The study looked at how well a medicine called trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) worked in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive colorectal cancer that had spread to other parts of the body and could not be removed by surgery. At the time of the original publication, the study was still ongoing, but the results presented here are from the main planned analysis (that is, the first full review of the collected study data). What are the key takeaways? The doses of T-DXd are in milligrams per kilogram of the participant’s body weight (mg/kg). In this study, 82 participants received the lower dose (5.4 mg/kg), and 40 participants received the higher dose (6.4 mg/kg). The researchers found that both doses of T-DXd showed promising results in treating patients with HER2-positive, advanced colorectal cancer, even in those with RAS mutations and those who had previously received anti-HER2 treatments. Safety was acceptable, and most adverse events could be addressed through planning, monitoring, or standard medical care. The lower dose showed a favorable balance of benefits and risks. The lower dose provided similar efficacy with fewer serious adverse events. What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers? T-DXd works well for people with HER2-positive, advanced colorectal cancer, even if they have had previous treatments or have RAS mutations. The lower dose (5.4 mg/kg) of T-DXd caused fewer adverse events and works as well as the higher dose (6.4 mg/kg). Clinical trial number: NCT04744831.