AstraZeneca's Enhertu shows promise for broader breast cancer use

AstraZeneca said its Enhertu cancer drug has been shown to significantly help women suffering from a type of breast cancer, opening the door to a much larger potential patient group.

AstraZeneca, which is working on the drug with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, said Monday that Enhertu prolonged the survival and slowed the progression of metastatic breast cancer with low levels of a protein known as HER2.

The improvement was "clinically meaningful" when compared with standard chemotherapy, it said, adding that detailed trial results would be presented at an as-yet undisclosed medical conference.

While the study was limited to low-HER2 patients whose tumours had spread to other parts of the body, analysts have said a positive trial read-out could portend future use at an earlier stage of the disease with potentially hundreds of thousands of new eligible patients per year.

Also Read — US FDA panel to discuss lung cancer drug tested only in China

AstraZeneca has predicted a decline in sales of its widely used Covid-19 vaccine this year. However, brisk revenue growth from new cancer drugs has prompted analysts to rank the Anglo-Swedish company as one of the world's fastest-growing major pharma groups.

Enhertu belongs to a promising class of therapies called antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), which are engineered antibodies that bind to tumour cells and then release cell-killing chemicals.

AstraZeneca secured rights to the Daiichi Sankyo compound three years ago in a deal worth up to $6.9 billion, challenging the world’s biggest cancer drugmaker, Roche.

Enhertu has since been shown to help women with breast cancer characterised by high levels of HER2, a cell receptor that leads to uncontrolled tissue growth, when compared to Roche's ADC drug Kadcyla. This led to initial market approvals in late 2019. AstraZeneca's drug is also being tested against gastric, lung and colorectal cancers.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: