FDA OK’s AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new indication for AstraZeneca’s Faslodex(fulvestrant), expanding the indication to include use with abemaciclib, a CDK4/6 inhibitor, for the treatment of hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in women with disease progression after endocrine therapy.

Dave Fredrickson, Executive Vice President, Head of the Oncology Business Unit at AstraZeneca, said: “Faslodex has long been an effective monotherapy option for women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer, which is the most common type of advanced breast cancer. Today’s decision builds upon the recent approval for Faslodex in the first-line advanced setting and is supported by strong evidence to use this medicine within a combination therapy for advanced breast cancer. Combining Faslodex with abemaciclib provides patients with another effective, non-chemotherapy option to combat this disease.”

Peter A. Kaufman, MD of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, said: “This new indication for Faslodex offers another treatment option for women living with HR+, HER2- advanced or metastatic breast cancer with disease progression after endocrine therapy. The study supporting this indication demonstrated that Faslodex used in combination with abemaciclib significantly improves progression-free survival compared to Faslodex and placebo.”

The FDA approval is based on data from the Phase III MONARCH 2 trial, which met the study’s primary endpoint of PFS.

The trial included 669 women with HR+, HER2- advanced breast cancer. The results showed a statistically significant increase in investigator-assessed median PFS of 7.1 months (16.4 months vs 9.3 months) in patients who received Faslodex500 mg and abemaciclib 150 mg over Faslodex and placebo (HR: 0.553; 95% CI: 0.449-0.681; p<0.0001).

This expanded indication for Faslodex is the second FDA approval for Faslodex in combination with a CDK4/6 inhibitor. Faslodex has been licensed in the US since 2016 for use with the CDK4/6 inhibitor, palbociclib, for the treatment of women with HR+, HER2-negative MBC, whose cancer has progressed after endocrine therapy.

Image: FILE PHOTO: The logo of AstraZeneca is seen on a medication package at a pharmacy in London April 28, 2014. To match Insight CHINA-CANCER/BLACK MARKET REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/File Photo