CNN
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An experimental treatment shows promise for people with the most common form of advanced-stage breast cancer, according to the results of a phase 3 clinical trial.
the the details of the trial were presented Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. He showed that AstraZeneca’s capivasertib, in combination with Faslodex (fulvestrant), an endocrine therapy already used to treat advanced breast cancer, gave people a median 7.2 months without disease progression, compared with 3.6 months for people given a placebo plus endocrine therapy.
The trial involved 708 adults with HR-positive, HER2-low, or negative breast cancer whose disease had recurred or progressed during or after certain prior treatments.
About three quarters of women with metastatic breast cancer have HR positive breast cancer.
Capivasertib is an oral treatment that is administered twice a day on an intermittent schedule: four days on and three days off. The drug blocks the activity of a cancer-driving protein molecule called AKT, according to the Institute for Cancer Research.
The PFS finding “was a substantial improvement,” said Dr. Harold Burstein, a physician at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research.
“The good news is that, looking at the data, it also appears to be a better tolerated product than some of the drugs that are already out there that target the same pathway.”
The findings are good, agreed Dr. Otis Brawley, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and former medical director of the American Cancer Society. But “progression-free survival” is a “bland, less-than-objective parameter,” he said.
“I see the reduction in the risk of progression, but I don’t see it saying a reduction in the risk of death,” said Brawley, who was not involved in the study. That means more research will be needed to see if the treatment reduces the risk of mortality, she said.
He points to the cancer drug Avastin, which was initially touted as a progression-free survival advantage for metastatic breast cancer.
“They forgot about the other part of the trial, which is overall survival. Does it make people live longer? Heals the people? Well, when that part of the study came out three years later, it turned out that Avastin made people live less,Brawley said.
While that may not be the case with capivasertib, he said, it’s important to continue to watch for results from additional trials.
Overall, scientists have made significant progress in the treatment of breast cancer.
A to study published in October found that overall, the death rate dropped 43% over three decades, from 1989 to 2020, translating to 460,000 fewer deaths from breast cancer.
The capivasertib findings have not been peer reviewed or published in a professional journal.
Burstein said he is encouraged by many of the performances at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. With the positive results from research into breast cancer treatments, he believes that there will soon be many more options, and he is confident that capivasertib will be one of them.
“That’s a nice thing to have,” Burstein said. More arrows in the quiver. Those are all very positive and very encouraging developments.”
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