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Pills that stop the cell-division engine, added to hormone therapy for the most common type of breast cancer.
Palbociclib, ribociclib, abemaciclib with endocrine therapy: PFS roughly doubled and, for ribociclib and abemaciclib, overall survival improved in advanced HR+/HER2- disease. Ribociclib (NATALEE) and abemaciclib (monarchE) are approved as adjuvant therapy for high-risk early disease. 2026: palbociclib approved as maintenance in HR+/HER2+ disease (PATINA).
Block RB phosphorylation, arresting cells in G1.
Abemaciclib was the first CDK4/6 inhibitor approved after surgery for high-risk hormone-positive breast cancer.
A next-generation pill that blocks only CDK4, not CDK6, to keep the benefit of today's drugs without the low blood counts.
Dalpiciclib is Hengrui's CDK4/6 inhibitor, the first China-developed drug of the class, approved for hormone-driven advanced breast cancer on the DAWNA trials.
Palbociclib was the first CDK4/6 inhibitor (2015), and in 2026 became the first approved as maintenance in HER2-positive, hormone-positive breast cancer.
Ribociclib is the CDK4/6 inhibitor with the most consistent survival benefit, approved for a broad population of early breast cancer patients since 2024.
Ribociclib is a second adjuvant CDK4/6 option, and the only one with data in node-negative stage II disease. Roughly 3 in 100 patients avoid a relapse or death at three years, so the decision depends heavily on individual risk, tolerance of a three-year oral drug, and cost. Whether the benefit persists after treatment ends, as it did with abemaciclib, needs longer follow-up.
Women with hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that has spread to lymph nodes and has other high-risk features can now be offered two years of abemaciclib alongside their hormone therapy, with a durable reduction in relapse. It does not apply to node-negative or low-risk disease, and the diarrhoea and cost are real trade-offs to discuss.
This review is the textbook basis for the cyclin D-CDK4/6-RB axis that palbociclib, ribociclib and abemaciclib target in breast cancer, and for reading CDKN2A loss and cyclin D1 amplification in tumour genomes.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"CDK4/6 inhibitor" OR ABSTRACT:"CDK4/6 inhibitor" OR TITLE:"CDK4/6 inhibitors" OR ABSTRACT:"CDK4/6 inhibitors" OR TITLE:"palbociclib" OR ABSTRACT:"palbociclib" OR TITLE:"ribociclib" OR ABSTRACT:"ribociclib" OR TITLE:"abemaciclib" OR ABSTRACT:"abemaciclib"). Results are unfiltered search hits about CDK4/6 inhibitors, not a curated reading list.
Shares A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (Called PF-07220060 in Combination With PF-07104091) In Participants With Breast Cancer and Solid Tumors, Evaluation of Lasofoxifene Combined With Abemaciclib Compared With Fulvestrant Combined With Abemaciclib in Locally Advanced or Metastatic ER+/HER2- Breast Cancer With an ESR1 Mutation, Study of ECI830 Single Agent or in Combination in Patients With Advanced HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer and in Patients With Other Advanced Solid Tumors, Study for Participants Continuing From Pfizer-sponsored Palbociclib (a Study Medicine) Studies.
Shares A Study of Abemaciclib (LY2835219) Plus Tamoxifen or Abemaciclib Alone in Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer, A Study of Abemaciclib (LY2835219) With Abiraterone in Men With Prostate Cancer That Has Spread to Other Parts of the Body and is Expected to Respond to Hormonal Treatment (Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer), CAMPFIRE: A Study of Abemaciclib (LY2835219) in Participants With Ewing's Sarcoma, A Study Comparing Abemaciclib Plus Temozolomide to Temozolomide Monotherapy in Children and Young Adults With High-grade Glioma Following Radiotherapy.
Shares Study to Test the Safety and Tolerability of PF-07220060 in Participants With Advance Solid Tumors, MONARCH 3, PALOMA-2, PATINA.
Shares A Study to Learn About Vepdegestrant When Given With PF-07220060 to People With Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer., TACTIVE-U: A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (Vepdegestrant) When Given With Other Medicines in People With Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer (Sub-Study A), TACTIVE-U: A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (Vepdegestrant) When Given With Other Medicines in People With Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer (Sub-Study B), Vepdegestrant (ARV-471/PF-07850327) + Palbociclib vs Letrozole + Palbociclib in ER(+)/HER2(-) Advanced Breast Cancer.
Shares A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (Called PF-07220060 in Combination With PF-07104091) In Participants With Breast Cancer and Solid Tumors, Study for Participants Continuing From Pfizer-sponsored Palbociclib (a Study Medicine) Studies, A Study to Learn About Vepdegestrant When Given With PF-07220060 to People With Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer., FOURLIGHT-1.
Shares Study to Evaluate the Safety and Tolerability of Camizestrant in Combination With Atirmociclib in Women With Advanced Breast Cancer, A Comparative Study of AZD9833 Plus Palbociclib Versus Anastrozole Plus Palbociclib in Patients With ER-Positive HER2 Negative Breast Cancer Who Have Not Received Any Systemic Treatment for Advanced Disease, A Phase IIIb Study to Evaluate Camizestrant Plus Ribociclib in ER-positive, HER2-negative Advanced Breast Cancer, Oral SERD + CDK4/6 inhibitor after ESR1 emergence.
Shares CDK4/6 inhibitor + endocrine therapy, Sherr and Roberts 1999: CDK inhibitors as regulators of the G1 phase, Dalpiciclib, Hallmark: evading growth suppressors.
Shares PALLAS & PENELOPE-B, GEICAM Spanish Breast Cancer Group, monarchE, monarchE: two years of abemaciclib after surgery in high-risk, hormone-receptor-positive early breast cancer.