Patient Advocate's Role in Shared Decision Making

EP: 1.Differences Between SERDs and Other Therapies

EP: 2.Efficacy of Oral SERDs in the EMERALD Trial

EP: 3.Safety Concerns Associated With Oral SERDs

EP: 4.Benefits of Using Oral SERDs

EP: 5.Progression-Free Survival of Oral SERDs in Clinical Practice

EP: 6.Role of Oral SERDs in Treatment of ER+/HER2- in Metastatic Breast Cancer

EP: 7.ESR1 Mutation Confirmation With Oral SERDs

EP: 8.Coverage Considerations for Oral SERDs

EP: 9.Clinical Impact of Oral SERDs

EP: 10.Treatment Failure and Resistance Before Oral SERDs

EP: 11.Cardiovascular Risk and Menopausal Symptoms Associated With Oral SERDs

EP: 12.Monitoring and Managing Adverse Effects With Oral SERDs

EP: 13.Payer Perspectives on SERDs

EP: 14.Ensuring Access to Oral SERDs

EP: 15.How Patient Advocates Can Help the Newly Diagnosed

EP: 16.Empowering Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer

EP: 17.Helping Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer Enroll in Clinical Trials

EP: 18.Guiding Patients Through Complex Treatment Decisions

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EP: 19.Patient Advocate's Role in Shared Decision Making

EP: 20.Helping Patients Overcome Health Disparities as a Patient Advocate

Sonya Negley, IOM, CSMA:It’s important to know that patient advocacy organizations do not share in the decision-making process. What we do is help educate the patient to make the best decision. Oral SERDs [selective estrogen receptor downregulators] are an example. This is a new area for metastatic breast cancer, and it’s a specific target. Sharing the latest information about mutations, for instance, how does an acquired mutation occur? A lot of patients didn’t know there were acquired mutations. There is [often] so much information to discuss with the care team, they can’t get to everything. So [it’s helpful] if we can say, “If you are this subtype, and you have this mutation that’s an acquired mutation, [then] here is a new option you may want to consider with your care team that you could try.”

We’ve come a long way in the metastatic breast cancer space. Most of the treatments are infused or injected, so patients [often] have to go into a cancer center, the hospital, or the oncology center and have their treatments there. They spend a lot of time there. If a patient has the opportunity to have a treatment—say an oral treatment, like oral SERDs—that they can do at home, it’s not just the treatment but it’s [also] the quality of life that that brings to the patient. Because they do not have to schedule this time out, schedule this time away from their family, go to the treatment center, and spend half a day or more there to receive their treatment. The treatments are treating the total patient and it’s giving patients different options.

Sharing that information with patients is an education process because they’re not used to it. They’re not used to having that time away or being able to take their medicine at home. That is one of the really great things about these oral medications that are coming to market now. Not only do they treat a specific mutation, but they also allow a patient to have that targeted treatment at home.

Transcript edited for clarity.