Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, reporting at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress in Barcelona, say that an antibody-drug conjugate that delivers chemotherapy directly to the tumor site has shown “impressive” activity against HER2-positive breast cancer that has spread to the brain. The findings, according to the study…

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators have found that a year of treatment with an antibody and chemotherapy drug conjugate is highly effective at preventing recurrence of HER2-positive breast cancer in patients with stage 1 disease. The Phase II ATEMPT clinical study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, showed that 97%…

New data from the National Cancer Institute’s Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (NCI-MATCH) precision medicine clinical trial has shown in a Phase II study that the trastuzumab-pertuzumab combination therapy, already approved for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, shrunk the tumors of several other cancer types. The findings warrant additional…

A landmark study in people with breast cancer has shown that the oral antidiabetic agent metformin does not delay disease recurrence or death overall but may be effective in a subgroup of people with human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)2-positive tumors. The phase 3 MA.32 trial, led by Pamela Goodwin…

New research from Peru shows a link between a greater incidence of HER2-positive breast cancer in women with Indigenous American (IA) ancestry, suggesting the presence of a population-specific genetic variant. Researchers with the Peruvian Genetics and Genomics of Breast Cancer study (PEGEN-BC) reported on genome-wide data from 1,312 patients who…

New research out of the Scripps Research Institute is showing early promise in being able to address treatment for a form of cancer which, to date, has no targeted therapies—HER2-negative breast cancer. The study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, from the research lab of Matthew D.…

Breakthrough cancer drug Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) appears to have scored another first, this time in a trial of metastatic breast cancer patients with HER2-low and HER2-ultralow tumors. Researchers also presented the first data supporting Enhertu as a first-line treatment in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.  Further, interim results from the DESTINY-Breast07…

Enhertu (AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s trastuzumab deruxtecan) has become the first tumor-agnostic, FDA-approved, HER2-directed therapy. It is approved for adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (IHC 3+) solid tumors. Enhertu is an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) that consists of a HER2 monoclonal antibody attached to a number of topoisomerase…

A genetic signature for HER2-low tumors has been found that may solve a problem for those seeking wider use of drugs targeting such cancers, particularly antibody drug congugate (ADC) Enhertu (trastuzumab-deruxtecan/T-DXd). ADCs carry a payload that helps them be especially effective.  Their 20-gene signature, the team says, shows promise in…

One of the most competitive fields in pharma today involves antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), a market estimated to be worth almost $20B already. This week the FDA accepted the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for ADC Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki) and granted it Priority Review. Enhertu is a HER2-directed ADC being…

Patients with node-positive breast cancer that becomes node-negative after neoadjuvant chemotherapy can omit regional nodal irradiation (RNI) without increasing their risk for recurrence, suggests data presented at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The de-escalation of treatment could spare a large proportion of patients the side effects associated with…

A groundbreaking study conducted at Northwestern Medicine suggests that an artificial intelligence (AI) tool could spare breast cancer patients unnecessary chemotherapy treatments by more accurately predicting patient outcomes. The research, published today in Nature Medicine, shows that the AI tool outperformed the analysis of disease by expert pathologists. While current…

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborators have developed and validated a multiparameter molecular classifier test that allows scientists to predict which HER2-positive breast cancer patients could be spared from chemotherapy by receiving anti-HER2 treatment only. About one in every five breast cancer patients is HER2-positive—meaning that the cancer…

In the latest high profile antibody drug conjugate (ADC) deal, this week Hangzhou-based Bliss Biopharmaceutical (BlissBio) announced a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Eisai for its lead ADC BB-1701, which is in Phase I/II in China and the U.S. BB-1701 has an eribulin-payload directed against Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor…

One of the top selling drugs in the world, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumal), is moving into new territory. The company just reported positive topline results from a phase III trial of KEYTRUDA in combination with chemotherapy for patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative gastric or gastroesophageal…