Pfizer’s BRAFTOVI® Combination Regimen Demonstrates Improved Response in Patients with BRAF V600E-Mutant Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

In This Article:

  • Clinically meaningful and statistically significant results from the Phase 3 BREAKWATER trial show objective response rate of 61% with Pfizer’s BRAFTOVI combination regimen compared to 40% with investigator’s choice of chemotherapy, representing a doubling of the odds of achieving an objective response

  • BRAFTOVI combination regimen is the first and only targeted therapy approved by the U.S. FDA for treatment-naïve patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with a BRAF V600E mutation

NEW YORK, January 25, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced positive results from the Phase 3 BREAKWATER trial evaluating BRAFTOVI® (encorafenib) in combination with cetuximab (marketed as ERBITUX®) and mFOLFOX6 (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) with a BRAF V600E mutation. At the time of this analysis, the BRAFTOVI combination regimen demonstrated a clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in confirmed objective response rate (ORR) assessed by blinded independent central review (BICR) compared to patients receiving chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab (60.9% vs 40.0%, odds ratio =2.443, p=0.0008). These results will be presented today in an oral presentation (Abstract 16) at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium (ASCO GI) and were simultaneously published in Nature Medicine.

"Despite the high unmet need in this patient population, prior to the recent encorafenib combination regimen approval, there were no approved biomarker-driven therapies indicated for people with previously untreated BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer," said Scott Kopetz, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Professor and Deputy Chair of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and co-principal investigator of the BREAKWATER trial. "These data from the BREAKWATER study show the potential for this targeted treatment regimen to become the new standard of care for people with BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer, for whom long-term disease control is critical."

The estimated median duration of response as assessed by BICR was 13.9 months (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 8.5-not estimable [NE]) with BRAFTOVI plus cetuximab and mFOLFOX6 and 11.1 months (95% CI: 6.7-12.7) with chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab. Of patients on BRAFTOVI plus cetuximab and mFOLFOX6, 22.4% (n=15) had a response lasting 12 months or longer, compared to 11.4% (n=5) with chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab. The median time to response as assessed by BICR was 7.1 weeks (range 5.7-53.7) with BRAFTOVI plus cetuximab and mFOLFOX6 and 7.3 weeks (range 5.4-48.0) with chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab.