Enhertu Bests Kadcyla in Metastatic HER2+ Breast Cancer Analysis

AstraZeneca’s HER2-targeting drug/antibody conjugate garnered headlines at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting last week, posting wins in metastatic HER2+ breast cancer, advanced gastric cancer and nonsmall-cell lung cancer.

The most attention-grabbing result was an interim analysis of the 524-patient DESTINY breast cancer trial — a 72 percent reduction in risk of progression in patients with unresectable and/or metastatic breast cancer who got Enhertu compared to patients treated with Roche’s Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine).

The estimated 12-month progression-free survival rate was 76 percent in the Enhertu group and 34 percent in the Kadcyla group, according to Javier Cortés of the International Breast Cancer Center, Quiron Group, in Barcelona, who reported the data.

Progression-free survival time, a secondary endpoint, was also significantly better in the Enhertu group at 25.1 vs. 7.2 months. This difference was consistent whether or not the patients had brain metastases.