# HER2CLIMB brain metastases analysis: intracranial efficacy and survival with tucatinib

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-her2climb-brain-lin-jco-2020/  
OnCo record `paper-her2climb-brain-lin-jco-2020` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Among the HER2CLIMB patients with brain metastases, tucatinib doubled the intracranial response rate, cut the risk of intracranial progression or death by about two thirds and lengthened survival.

## Summary

Exploratory analysis of the 291 HER2CLIMB patients with brain metastases at baseline, including 174 with active lesions.

Risk of intracranial progression or death was reduced by 68 percent with tucatinib, median central nervous system progression-free survival was 9.9 versus 4.2 months, intracranial response was 47.3 versus 20.0 percent, and median overall survival was 18.1 versus 12.0 months.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology
- Year: 2020
- DOI: 10.1200/JCO.20.00775
- Authors: Lin NU, Borges V, Anders C, et al.
- Findings: Intracranial objective response 47.3 percent vs 20.0 percent.; Median central nervous system progression-free survival 9.9 vs 4.2 months; median overall survival 18.1 vs 12.0 months.
- What it means: This analysis is the evidence base for treating active HER2-positive brain metastases with a systemic regimen, sometimes deferring radiotherapy, and for tucatinib's brain-specific labelling.
- Caveats: Exploratory subgroup analysis, though prespecified.; Local therapy was permitted at isolated brain progression, which complicates interpretation.

## Sources

- J Clin Oncol 2020: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.20.00775
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32468955/

## Connected records

- cancers: [HER2-positive breast cancer with brain metastases](https://onco.cc/cancers/her2-positive-breast-brain-metastases/)
- drugs: [Capecitabine](https://onco.cc/drugs/capecitabine/), [Trastuzumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/trastuzumab/), [Tucatinib](https://onco.cc/drugs/tucatinib/)
- trials: [HER2CLIMB](https://onco.cc/trials/her2climb/)
- journals: [Journal of Clinical Oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/jco/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/paper-her2climb-brain-lin-jco-2020.json