TOKYO, Japan & BASKING RIDGE, NJ, USA I May 07, 2025 I
Positive topline results from the
DESTINY-Breast11
phase 3 trial showed ENHERTU
®
(trastuzumab deruxtecan) followed by paclitaxel, trastuzumab and pertuzumab (THP) demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in pathologic complete response (pCR) rate versus standard of care (dose-dense doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by THP [ddAC-THP]) when used in the neoadjuvant setting (before surgery) in patients with high-risk, locally advanced HER2 positive early-stage breast cancer. Pathologic complete response is defined as no evidence of invasive cancer cells in the removed breast tissue and lymph nodes following treatment.
The secondary endpoint of event-free survival (EFS) was not mature at the time of this analysis; however, EFS data showed an early positive trend favoring ENHERTU followed by THP compared to standard of care. The trial will continue to follow EFS.
ENHERTU is a specifically engineered HER2 directed DXd antibody drug conjugate (ADC) discovered by Daiichi Sankyo (TSE: 4568) and being jointly developed and commercialized by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN).
Approximately one in three patients with early-stage breast cancer are considered high-risk, as they are more likely to experience disease recurrence and have a poor prognosis.
1,2
Achieving pCR in early-stage HER2 positive breast cancer is associated with improved long-term outcomes.
3,4
The current standard of care in many regions of the world in this neoadjuvant setting consists of combination chemotherapy regimens. These regimens often include anthracyclines, which can be challenging for patients to tolerate and may result in long-term cardiovascular side effects. Further, nearly half of patients who receive neoadjuvant treatment do not achieve pCR, reinforcing the need for new treatment options.
2,5
“There are still many patients with early-stage breast cancer who do not achieve a pathologic complete response with treatment in the neoadjuvant setting, increasing the risk of disease recurrence,” said Ken Takeshita, MD, Global Head, R&D, Daiichi Sankyo. “These topline results from DESTINY-Breast11 demonstrate that ENHERTU followed by THP could offer patients with HER2 positive breast cancer a promising new treatment approach prior to surgery, setting more patients on a path towards a potential cure.”
“The clinically meaningful improvement in pathologic complete response and the safety data seen in DESTINY-Breast11 highlight the potential of ENHERTU to challenge the current standard of care in early-stage HER2 positive breast cancer,”said Susan Galbraith, MBBChir, PhD, Executive Vice President, Oncology Hematology R&D, AstraZeneca. “ENHERTU is already an important treatment option in the metastatic setting, and these data have the potential to allow this medicine to move into early stages of disease where cure is possible.”
ENHERTU followed by THP showed an improved safety profile compared to ddAC-THP. The safety profiles of ENHERTU and THP were consistent with the known profiles of each individual medicine with no new safety concerns identified. Rates of interstitial lung disease were similar across the ENHERTU followed by THP and the ddAC-THP arms as determined by an independent adjudication committee.
Following a recommendation by the Independent Data Monitoring Committee, patient enrollment in a third arm of the study evaluating ENHERTU alone was closed based on a previous interim efficacy assessment of the study arms.
Data from DESTINY-Breast11 will be presented at an upcoming medical meeting and shared with regulatory authorities.
ENHERTU has demonstrated improved outcomes in six phase 3 breast cancer trials across different subtypes and stages of disease, including the recently announced
DESTINY-Breast09
trial in the first-line HER2 positive metastatic setting. ENHERTU is also being studied in several ongoing breast cancer trials, including the
DESTINY-Breast05
phase 3 trial, which is evaluating ENHERTU in the high-risk adjuvant early HER2 positive setting.
About DESTINY-Breast11
DESTINY-Breast11
is a global, multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant ENHERTU (5.4 mg/kg) monotherapy or ENHERTU followed by THP (paclitaxel, trastuzumab and pertuzumab) versus the standard of care regimen in patients with high-risk (lymph node positive [N1-3] or primary tumor stage T3-4), locally advanced or inflammatory HER2 positive early-stage breast cancer.
Patients were randomized 1:1:1 to receive either eight cycles of ENHERTU monotherapy; four cycles of ENHERTU followed by four cycles of THP; or four cycles of ddAC (dose-dense doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) followed by four cycles of THP.
The primary endpoint of DESTINY-Breast11 is rate of pCR (absence of invasive disease in the breast and lymph nodes). Secondary endpoints include EFS, invasive disease-free survival, overall survival and safety.
DESTINY-Breast11 enrolled 927 patients across multiple sites in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. For more information about the trial, visit
ClinicalTrials.gov
.
About HER2 Positive Early Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide.
6
More than two million breast cancer cases were diagnosed in 2022, with more than 665,000 deaths globally.
6
HER2 is a tyrosine kinase receptor growth-promoting protein expressed on the surface of many types of tumors including breast, gastric, lung and colorectal cancers.
7
HER2 protein overexpression may occur as a result of HER2 gene amplification and is often associated with aggressive disease and poor prognosis in breast cancer.
8
Approximately one in five cases of breast cancer are considered HER2 positive.
9
Approximately one in three patients with early-stage breast cancer are considered high-risk, as they are more likely to experience disease recurrence and have a poor prognosis.
1,2
Achieving pCR in early-stage HER2 positive breast cancer is associated with improved long-term outcomes.
3,4
The current standard of care in many regions of the world in this neoadjuvant setting consists of combination chemotherapy regimens. These regimens often include anthracyclines, which can be challenging for patients to tolerate and may result in long-term cardiovascular side effects. Further, nearly half of patients who receive neoadjuvant treatment do not achieve pCR, reinforcing the need for new treatment options.
2,5
About ENHERTU
ENHERTU (trastuzumab deruxtecan; fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki in the U.S. only) is a HER2 directed ADC. Designed using Daiichi Sankyo’s proprietary DXd ADC Technology, ENHERTU is the lead ADC in the oncology portfolio of Daiichi Sankyo and the most advanced program in AstraZeneca’s ADC scientific platform. ENHERTU consists of a HER2 monoclonal antibody attached to a number of topoisomerase I inhibitor payloads (an exatecan derivative, DXd) via tetrapeptide-based cleavable linkers.
ENHERTU (5.4 mg/kg) is approved in more than 75 countries worldwide for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2 positive (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 3+ or in-situ hybridization (ISH)+) breast cancer who have received a prior anti-HER2-based regimen, either in the metastatic setting or in the neoadjuvant or adjuvant setting, and have developed disease recurrence during or within six months of completing therapy based on the results from the
DESTINY-Breast03
trial.
ENHERTU (5.4 mg/kg) is approved in more than 75 countries worldwide for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2 low (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) breast cancer who have received a prior systemic therapy in the metastatic setting or developed disease recurrence during or within six months of completing adjuvant chemotherapy based on the results from the
DESTINY-Breast04
trial.
ENHERTU (5.4 mg/kg) is approved in more than 30 countries 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 a locally or regionally approved test, that has progressed on one or more endocrine therapies in the metastatic setting based on the results from the
DESTINY-Breast06
trial.
ENHERTU (5.4 mg/kg) is approved in more than 50 countries worldwide for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic NSCLC whose tumors have activating
HER2
(
ERBB2
) mutations, as detected by a locally or regionally approved test, and who have received a prior systemic therapy based on the results from the
DESTINY-Lung02
and/or
DESTINY-Lung05
trials. Continued approval in China and the U.S. for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.
ENHERTU (6.4 mg/kg) is approved in more than 65 countries worldwide for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic HER2 positive (IHC 3+ or IHC 2+/ISH+) gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma who have received a prior trastuzumab-based regimen based on the results from the
DESTINY-Gastric01
,
DESTINY-Gastric02
and/or
DESTINY-Gastric06
trials. Continued approval in China for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.
ENHERTU (5.4 mg/kg) is approved in Brazil, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, U.K. and the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2 positive (IHC 3+) solid tumors who have received prior systemic treatment and have no satisfactory alternative treatment options based on efficacy results from the
DESTINY-PanTumor02
,
DESTINY-Lung01
and
DESTINY-CRC02
trials. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.
About the ENHERTU Clinical Development Program
A comprehensive global clinical development program is underway evaluating the efficacy and safety of ENHERTU as a monotherapy or in combination or sequentially with other anti-cancer therapies across multiple HER2 targetable cancers.
About the Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca Collaboration
Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca entered into a global collaboration to jointly develop and commercialize ENHERTU in
March 2019
and DATROWAY
®
in
July 2020
, except in Japan where Daiichi Sankyo maintains exclusive rights for each ADC. Daiichi Sankyo is responsible for the manufacturing and supply of ENHERTU and DATROWAY.
About the ADC Portfolio of Daiichi Sankyo
The Daiichi Sankyo ADC portfolio consists of seven ADCs in clinical development crafted from two distinct ADC technology platforms discovered in-house by Daiichi Sankyo.
The ADC platform furthest in clinical development is Daiichi Sankyo’s DXd ADC Technology where each ADC consists of a monoclonal antibody attached to a number of topoisomerase I inhibitor payloads (an exatecan derivative, DXd) via tetrapeptide-based cleavable linkers. The DXd ADC portfolio currently consists of ENHERTU, a HER2 directed ADC, and DATROWAY, a TROP2 directed ADC, which are being jointly developed and commercialized globally with AstraZeneca. Patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd), a HER3 directed ADC, ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd), a B7-H3 directed ADC, and raludotatug deruxtecan (R-DXd), a CDH6 directed ADC, are being jointly developed and commercialized globally with Merck & Co., Inc, Rahway, NJ, USA. DS-3939, a TA-MUC1 directed ADC, is being developed by Daiichi Sankyo.
The second Daiichi Sankyo ADC platform consists of a monoclonal antibody attached to a modified pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) payload. DS-9606, a CLDN6 directed PBD ADC, is the first of several planned ADCs in clinical development utilizing this platform.
Ifinatamab deruxtecan, patritumab deruxtecan, raludotatug deruxtecan, DS-3939 and DS-9606 are investigational medicines that have not been approved for any indication in any country. Safety and efficacy have not been established.
Indications
ENHERTU is a HER2-directed antibody and topoisomerase inhibitor conjugate indicated for the treatment of adult patients with:
Please see accompanying full
Prescribing Information
, including Boxed WARNINGS, and
Medication Guide
.
About Daiichi Sankyo
Daiichi Sankyo is an innovative global healthcare company contributing to the sustainable development of society that discovers, develops and delivers new standards of care to enrich the quality of life around the world. With more than 120 years of experience, Daiichi Sankyo leverages its world-class science and technology to create new modalities and innovative medicines for people with cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases with high unmet medical need. For more information, please visit
www.daiichisankyo.com
.
SOURCE:
Daiichi Sankyo