HQ Team
February 26, 2025: AstraZeneca Plc.’s end-stage trials of its investigational drug for advanced breast cancer have increased survival rates in patients, results show, according to the Anglo-Swedish company.
“Patients have an urgent need for new treatments that delay disease progression on 1st-line endocrine-based therapies,” said François-Clément Bidard, MD, PhD, a co-principal investigator for the trial.
The results from the trials of its camizestrant, in combination with standard-of-care treatment, “delays progression of disease and extends the benefit of 1st-line treatment, representing an important step forward for patients, and a potential shift in clinical practice,” he said.
The company’s treatment was trialled for suppressing tumour growth in patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer with a type of genetic mutation.
Progression-free survival
The treatment met the main goal of progression-free survival when given as a first-line treatment, according to a company’s interim analysis.
Camizestrant in combination with a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor (palbociclib, ribociclib or abemaciclib) demonstrated a “highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the primary endpoint of progression-free survival,” according to a statement.
Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors are a class of drugs that target CDK4 and CDK6, enzymes crucial for cell division, used to treat hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer by interrupting cell growth.
“This critical read-out moves us one step closer to realising the potential of camizestrant to become a new standard-of-care as we look to shift the treatment paradigm and establish this new endocrine therapy backbone in HR-positive breast cancer,” said Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President, Oncology Haematology R&D of AstraZeneca.
CDK 4/6 inhibitors
About 200,000 global patients with HR-positive breast cancer are treated with medicine in the 1st-line setting — most frequently with endocrine therapies that target estrogen receptor-driven disease, which is often paired with CDK4/6 inhibitors.
Resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors and current endocrine therapies develops in many patients with advanced disease, according to the statement.
Gene mutations are a key driver of endocrine resistance and are widely tested for in clinical practice.
Second most common cancer
These mutations develop during treatment of the disease, becoming more prevalent as the disease progresses and are associated with poor outcomes.
Approximately 30% of patients with endocrine-sensitive HR-positive disease develop mutations during 1st-line treatment without disease progression.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. More than two million patients were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, with more than 665,000 deaths globally.
