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European Commission Approves Trastuzumab Deruxtecan for Second-Line HER2+ Breast Cancer

The European Commission announced an approval of trastuzumab deruxtecan as monotherapy for patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have already received one prior line of therapy.

This approval follows the positive opinion released by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use and is based on positive results from the phase 3 DESTINY-Breast03 trial. For patients in the EU, trastuzumab deruxtecan is now available as a second-line treatment option.

In DESTINY-Breast03, trastuzumab deruxtecan reduced disease progression or death by 72% when compared to trastuzumab emtansine (HR = 0.28; 95% CI, 0.22-0.37; P < .000001).

Overall survival was significantly better in patients treated with  trastuzumab deruxtecan vs trastuzumab emtansine. The objective response rate was more than doubled with  trastuzumab deruxtecan compared to trastuzumab emtansine, 79.7% vs 34.2%, respectively. 

The most common adverse events were nausea, vomiting, fatigue, alopecia, and neutropenia. Twelve percent of patients developed interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis, but most cases were grade 1-2.

“In the DESTINY-Breast03 trial, the time to progression was extended well beyond a year for patients receiving [trastuzumab deruxtecan], illustrating the potential for this medicine to set a new benchmark in the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer,” Javier Cortés, MD, PhD, head of the International Breast Cancer Center in Barcelona.

This approval further supports the findings of DESTINY-Breast03 and the European Society for Medical Oncology Clinical Practice Guidelines that now recommend trastuzumab deruxtecan as the preferred second-line therapy for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

References:

https://www.astrazeneca.com/content/astraz/media-centre/press-releases/2022/enhertu-approved-in-eu-for-her2-positive-mbc.html

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115022

Disclosures: The study was supported by AstraZeneca.

Photo Credit: Getty Images.

By MD /alert Staff

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