According to the latest WHO data, breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in women, with 2.3 million new cases recorded in 2022 and 670,000 deaths worldwide. A few days before Pink October, the annual global awareness campaign on breast cancer, several promising advances are bringing a breath of hope to patients. At ESMO, the annual European Cancer Congress, held from September 13 to 17 in Barcelona, several laboratories announced positive results in the treatment of this cancer, at different stages.
Starting with Novartis, which took advantage of the event to unveil positive data from its NATALEE phase III study, from which the FDA approved, on Tuesday, a new indication for its drug Kisqali (ribociclib). Already authorized in nearly a hundred countries as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer, the inhibitor can now also be prescribed to American patients with early forms. According to the results of the study, its combination with conventional hormone therapy reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 28.5% compared to therapy used alone.
” This expanded indication for Kisqali nearly doubles the size of the patient population eligible for treatment “, the Swiss laboratory figures. The Novartis drug, whose sales reached 2.1 billion dollars in 2023, is now in direct confrontation with Lilly’s Vernezio, also indicated in the treatment of early-stage breast cancer. The Swiss laboratory announced that ” Regulatory reviews for Kisqali as a treatment for early breast cancer are underway worldwide, including in the EU and China “.
In the treatment of early forms of breast cancer, Merck also presented positive data in favor of Keytruda. The drug now has overall survival data to support its effectiveness as a perioperative therapy in early triple-negative breast cancer. The combination of Keytruda and chemotherapy, before and after surgery, reduced the risk of death by 34% compared to chemotherapy alone. A success for Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor, where Roche’s Tecentriq had failed. In 2023, the Swiss laboratory had been forced to interrupt its phase III trial after obtaining data suggesting that the risk of recurrence or death was even higher for patients treated with the Tecentriq-chemotherapy combination, compared to chemotherapy alone.
Other laboratories have highlighted positive results, this time for advanced forms of breast cancer, such as Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca. The two giants have communicated new data from their phase III DESTINY-Breast12 study in favor of the use of their blockbuster Enhertu in the treatment of breast cancer with brain metastases. The antibody-drug conjugate has made it possible to record activity on the central nervous system, in addition to its overall activity, which represents a significant advance in the face of the few therapeutic options available.
A star of ASCO 2022 for its results obtained on metastatic breast cancer, the drug is already approved against several types of breast cancer. These new data will not allow Enhertu to obtain a new approval, which it already has on metastatic forms, but will enrich the still limited knowledge on this type of aggressive cancer. Up to 50% of patients with metastatic breast cancer see their disease spread to the brain over time ” said Nancy Lin, the trial’s principal investigator.
These announcements should further reduce the mortality rate linked to breast cancer, which has fallen by 40% over the last forty years. The WHO aims to reduce this mortality rate by 2.5% per year, and thus avoid 2.5 million deaths worldwide by 2040.
