(Reuters) – AstraZeneca said on Tuesday its breast cancer drug, Truqap, in combination with chemotherapy agent, paclitaxel, did not meet its main goals in a late-stage trial to improve overall survival of patients with a type of breast cancer.
Triple-negative breast cancer remains one of the most challenging forms of disease to treat due to the lack of known actionable biomarker targets, and chemotherapy-based regimens continue to be the mainstay of treatment, AstraZeneca said.
The trial, known as CAPItello-290, was testing whether the drug combination improved overall survival in patients with inoperable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer versus the older and cheaper chemotherapy agent, paclitaxel, in combination with a placebo.
The study failed to achieve its goals in both the overall trial population and in a sub-group of patients with tumours harbouring specific biomarker alterations, the drugmaker said.
“While we are disappointed in the CAPItello-290 outcome, these results will further our understanding of the role of the PI3K/AKT pathway in breast cancer,” said Susan Galbraith, executive vice president, oncology R&D, AstraZeneca.
This development underscores the complexities and challenges in developing effective treatments for breast cancer, despite substantial investments in research and development by pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca.
Additionally, the company now faces the daunting task of reassessing its approach. It may potentially redirect resources to explore alternative strategies or therapies in the ongoing fight against breast cancer.
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