- Strong efficacy for metastatic breast cancer treatment Enhertu
- Reducing disease progression by 50% and death by 36%
- Potential for $3 billion of additional sales
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZN) announced its metastatic breast cancer treatment Enhertu had demonstrated ‘superior and clinically meaningful progression free survival’ reducing the risk of disease progression by half and the risk of death by a third.
Enhertu is being jointly developed and commercialized in partnership with Daiichi Sankyo. The treatment is already approved as a third line of therapy for patients with later stages of the disease and for a second line therapy for metastatic gastric cancer.
BROADEND SCOPE
The detailed positive results of the pivotal DESTINY-Breast04 Phase III trial indicates potential for a broader use as a second-line treatment.
Dr. Susie Janna, pharmaceutical analyst at Shore Capital commented:’ AstraZeneca had announced in February 2022 that this trial had been successful, but the magnitude of this benefit is impressive in our view and begins to broaden the potential scope of Enhertu beyond just HER2+ disease.
‘Phase III DESTINY-Breast06 data are expected later this year that could further support its use in HER2-low breast cancer.’
In 2021 Enhertu generated sales of $426 million and the approval for a broader range of cancer patients could be worth up to $3 billion in additional sales according to analysts at Credit Suisse.
Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of Oncology at AstraZeneca said: ‘Today's results represent a pivotal moment demonstrating the potential for Enhertu to redefine the treatment of HER2-targetable cancers.
‘We must now evolve the way we classify and treat metastatic breast cancer to ensure these patients are effectively diagnosed and treated.’
The shares dropped 1% to £103.22 on Monday as strong risk appetite in markets saw defensive sectors such as healthcare lag after a period of relative outperformance.
