- Postive cancer trial results
- Potentially increases patient pool
- New standard of care
Shares in AstraZeneca (AZN) got a further boost today, rising 2% after posting positive late-stage trial results for breast cancer treatment Enhertu which demonstrated clinically-meaningful progression-free survival improvements.
This follows strong market-beating first-quarter results last week (25 April) which sent the shares up 5% to a new 52-week high. Today’s gain sees the shares up 13% for the year, roughly double the performance of the FTSE 100 index.
WHY ARE INVESTORS EXCITED?
The Phase III Destiny-Breast (DB06) trial was investigating the potential use of Enhertu in patients with second-line breast cancer who had progressed following hormone-based treatments.
If the headline results are confirmed by further data, it means if approved the drug could enable its use in an earlier setting of the disease.
Healthcare analyst Sean Conroy at Shore Capital explained this emerging opportunity could expand the applicable patient pool by two-to-three times compared with the current addressable market, which is worth around $10 billion.
Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology at AstraZeneca, said: ‘DESTINY-Breast06 shows that Enhertu could become a new standard of care for patients with HER2-low and HER2-ultralow metastatic breast cancer following one or more lines of endocrine therapy.
‘These data underscore the potential for treatment with Enhertu across the spectrum of HR-positive breast cancer, further redefining the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.
Enhertu is a specifically-engineered antibody which targets cancer cells while sparing healthy cells and was discovered by AstraZeneca’s partner Daiichi Sankyo. Both companies are jointly developing and commercialising the treatment.
The company said while survival rates are high for those diagnosed with early breast cancer, only around 30% of patients who are diagnosed with or progress to metastatic cancer are expected to live five years after diagnosis.
In 2023 AstraZeneca generated $1.3 billion in profit-sharing and royalties from Enhertu taking total combined sales of the drug to $2.6 billion.
