Dr Reddy's Laboratories Trastuzumab (DRL_TZ) is a biosimilar to Herceptin under development. The present study was conducted to evaluate efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics (PKs), and immunogenicity ...of DRL_TZ in comparison with the reference medicinal product (RMP) along with concomitant weekly paclitaxel in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
This was a randomized, double-blind study in female patients with HER2-positive MBC, randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either DRL_TZ or the RMP, that is, an innovator product sourced from the European region, along with additional chemotherapy, as first-line treatment for up to 24 weeks. The primary end point was the best overall response rate (ORR) as per RECIST 1.1 criteria. Progression-free survival rate at 6 months (PFS6), safety, immunogenicity, and PK parameters were assessed as secondary end points.
A total of 164 patients were randomly assigned to receive either DRL_TZ or the RMP. Best ORR in the per-protocol population was comparable, 91.9% (93.3% CI, 83.2 to 96.3) versus 82.1% (93.3% CI, 72.0 to 89.1) in DRL_TZ and RMP arms, respectively; the difference between the arms was 9.8% with a 93.3% CI of -1.3 to 20.8. The PFS6 rate, safety, PK profile, and antidrug antibody incidence were comparable. An additional 44 patients were recruited in the postrandomization phase, in an open-label manner, and started on DRL_TZ to generate more data on efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. The additional data with DRL_TZ, when pooled, were similar to the RMP data.
DRL_TZ was found to have similar efficacy and comparable safety, PK, and immunogenicity profiles as the RMP.
Currently, antiangiogenic strategies in metastatic breast cancer have demonstrated modest improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) but not improved quality or duration of survival, warranting ...evaluation of new agents in a placebo-controlled setting. Ramucirumab is a human immunoglobulin G1 antibody that binds vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 and blocks ligand-stimulated activation. The ROSE/TRIO-012 trial evaluated ramucirumab with docetaxel in unresectable, locally recurrent, or metastatic breast cancer.
In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, multinational phase III trial, 1,144 patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -negative breast cancer who had not received cytotoxic chemotherapy in the advanced setting were randomly assigned at a two-to-one ratio to receive docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) plus ramucirumab 10 mg/kg or docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) plus placebo once every 3 weeks. Treatment continued until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or other withdrawal criteria. Patients were stratified by previous taxane therapy, visceral metastasis, hormone receptor status, and geographic region. An independent data monitoring committee oversaw the trial. The primary end point was investigator-assessed PFS.
Median PFS in patients treated with ramucirumab plus docetaxel was 9.5 months, compared with 8.2 months in patients who received placebo plus docetaxel (hazard ratio HR, 0.88; P = .077). Median overall survival was 27.3 months in patients who received ramucirumab plus docetaxel, compared with 27.2 months in patients who received placebo plus docetaxel (HR, 1.01; P = .915). Toxicities seen at significantly higher rates in patients receiving ramucirumab included fatigue, hypertension, febrile neutropenia, palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome, and stomatitis.
Addition of ramucirumab to docetaxel in HER2-negative advanced breast cancer did not meaningfully improve important clinical outcomes.
Summary Background Trastuzumab resistance is a key therapeutic challenge in metastatic breast cancer. We postulated that broader inhibition of ErbB receptors with afatinib would improve clinical ...outcomes compared with HER2 inhibition alone in patients who had progressed on previous trastuzumab treatment. LUX-Breast 1 compared afatinib plus vinorelbine with trastuzumab plus vinorelbine for such patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Methods We did this open-label trial at 350 hospitals in 41 countries worldwide. We enrolled female patients with HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer who had progressed on or following adjuvant trastuzumab or first-line treatment of metastatic disease with trastuzumab. Participants were randomly assigned (2:1) to receive oral afatinib (40 mg/day) plus intravenous vinorelbine (25 mg/m2 per week) or intravenous trastuzumab (2 mg/kg per week after 4 mg/kg loading dose) plus vinorelbine. Randomisation was done centrally and stratified by previous trastuzumab treatment (adjuvant vs first-line treatment), hormone receptor status (oestrogen receptor and progesterone receptor positive vs others), and region. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is closed to enrolment and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT01125566. Findings Between Aug 26, 2010, and April 26, 2013, we enrolled 508 patients: 339 assigned to the afatinib group and 169 assigned to the trastuzumab group. Recruitment was stopped on April 26, 2013, after a benefit–risk assessment by the independent data monitoring committee was unfavourable for the afatinib group. Patients on afatinib plus vinorelbine had to switch to trastuzumab plus vinorelbine, afatinib monotherapy, vinorelbine monotherapy, or receive treatment outside of the trial. Median follow-up was 9·3 months (IQR 3·7–16·0). Median progression-free survival was 5·5 months (95% CI 5·4–5·6) in the afatinib group and 5·6 months (5·3–7·3) in the trastuzumab group (hazard ratio 1·10 95% CI 0·86–1·41; p=0·43). The most common drug-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher were neutropenia (190 56% of 337 patients in the afatinib group vs 102 60% of 169 patients in the trastuzumab group), leucopenia (64 19% vs 34 20%), and diarrhoea (60 18% vs none). Interpretation Trastuzumab-based therapy remains the treatment of choice for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who had progressed on trastuzumab. Funding Boehringer Ingelheim.