A new study has shown that adding the medicine Verzenio (abemaciclib) to standard hormone therapy can help people with a certain type of early breast cancer live longer and reduce the chance of the cancer coming back.
The updated results come from a large international study called monarchE. It followed more than 5,600 people who had hormone receptor–positive (HR+), HER2-negative breast cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes and was considered at high risk of coming back.
In the study, everyone received standard hormone therapy, and about half also took abemaciclib for two years. After more than six years of follow-up, the group who took abemaciclib had better results:
- People treated with abemaciclib were 15% less likely to die compared to those who received only hormone therapy.
- At seven years, 86.8% of people taking abemaciclib were still alive compared to 85.0% in the hormone therapy group.
- The combination also helped prevent breast cancer from returning or spreading to other parts of the body.
Fewer patients in the abemaciclib group were living with cancer that had spread compared to those who received only hormone therapy (6.4% vs. 9.4%).
Importantly, the study did not find any new or long-term safety concerns with abemaciclib. The medicine was generally well tolerated, and most side effects occurred early during treatment.
These results confirm that adding abemaciclib to hormone therapy after surgery offers lasting benefits for people with high-risk HR+, HER2-negative early breast cancer—helping them live longer and remain cancer-free for more years after treatment.
More Reading
Endocrine – Hormone Therapy for Early Stage Breast Cancer
Understanding Endocrine Therapy for Breast Cancer
Reference
Johnston S, Martin M, O’Shaughnessy J, et al. Overall Survival with Abemaciclib in Early Breast Cancer. Ann Oncol. 2025 Oct 17:S0923-7534(25)04948-8.
