ENHERTU® Approved in the U.S. as First HER2 Directed Therapy for Patients with HER2 Low or HER2 Ultralow Metastatic Breast Cancer Following Disease Progression After One or More Endocrine Therapies

In This Article:

  • Based on DESTINY-Breast06 phase 3 trial results which showed ENHERTU demonstrated superiority versus chemotherapy with a median progression-free survival of more than one year

  • Approval brings Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca’s ENHERTU to an earlier HR positive treatment setting and broadens the patient population eligible for treatment with a HER2 directed therapy to those with HER2 ultralow disease

TOKYO & BASKING RIDGE, N.J., January 27, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Daiichi Sankyo (TSE: 4568) and AstraZeneca’s (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) ENHERTU® (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki) has been approved in the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic hormone receptor (HR) positive, HER2 low (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) or HER2 ultralow (IHC 0 with membrane staining) breast cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved test, that has progressed on one or more endocrine therapies in the metastatic setting.

ENHERTU is a specifically engineered HER2 directed DXd antibody drug conjugate (ADC) discovered by Daiichi Sankyo and being jointly developed and commercialized by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca.

This approval, which is based on results from the DESTINY-Breast06 phase 3 trial presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (#ASCO24) Annual Meeting and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, follows Priority Review and Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA for ENHERTU in this indication.

In the DESTINY-Breast06 trial, ENHERTU demonstrated a 36% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death versus chemotherapy in the overall trial population of patients with chemotherapy-naïve HR positive, HER2 low or HER2 ultralow metastatic breast cancer (n=866) (hazard ratio [HR] 0.64; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.54-0.76; p<0.0001). A median progression-free survival (PFS) of 13.2 months (95% CI: 12.0-15.2) was seen in patients treated with ENHERTU compared to 8.1 months (95% CI: 7.0-9.0) in patients treated with chemotherapy.

The confirmed objective response rate (ORR) in the overall trial population was 62.6% (95% CI: 57.6-67.4) in the ENHERTU arm versus 34.4% (95% CI: 29.7-39.4) in the chemotherapy arm as assessed by blinded independent central review (BICR). There were 10 (2.5%) complete responses (CRs) and 236 (60.1%) partial responses (PRs) seen in the ENHERTU arm compared to zero (0%) CRs and 134 (34.4%) PRs in the chemotherapy arm. The median duration of response (DOR) was 14.3 months in the ENHERTU arm (95% CI: 12.5-15.9) versus 8.6 months in the chemotherapy arm (95% CI: 6.9-11.5) as assessed by BICR.