Biotech Strategy Blog

Commentary on Science, Innovation & New Products with a focus on Oncology, Hematology & Cancer Immunotherapy

Posts from the ‘breast’ category

Important learnings from targeted therapies from SABCS

In the last post from SABCS, we looked at what’s new on the translational front with the MYC oncogene in terms of breast cancer.

This time around we turn our attention to other targets and subsets of interest, which don’t involve immunotherapy – more on the latter in a separate article.

Today’s featured image is inspired by my dear friend Jody Schoger and Lisa Adams, who inspired us to find a little beauty in the world each day, no matter how hard it might seem.  2015 was very bad year for losing wonderful BioTwitter chums in the breast cancer community – they may be gone, but never forgotten 🙁

In particular, we highlight new developments in four key areas of interest, with some intriguing observations to discuss…

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What’s new in advanced breast cancer?

This weekend in the oncology conference calendar saw the ESMO Breast meeting take place.

The event was originally planned as a live event in Berlin – sadly with the pandemic it ended up as a virtual meeting on Central European time, yet you can still imagine the Berlin bear welcoming everyone regardless of format!

This is a good time to take off we we left off last week with our SERD landscape review since there was some new clinical data presented in this niche, as well as segue to the ASCO meeting on Friday where other companies will also be showcasing their early data.

Aside from SERDs, there were plenty of other highlights and commentary to consider in advanced breast cancer.

Here we explore some of the findings and offer some context for at least one commercial showdown…

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Highlights and lowlights in HER2+ metastatic breast cancer at SABCS19

San Antonio River Walk

San Antonio – It’s time to switch horses and focus on the annual meeting of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

There have been many exciting developments in the HER2-positive niche and this meeting is no different in terms of new agents with promising (and some not so promising) to discuss.

We take a look at the tucatinib and trastuzumab deruxtecan data and put them in context because there are some nuances involved in both that need careful consideration.

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Insights from KEYNOTE-522 in early stage TNBC

Cui bono?

Imagine arriving at ESMO19 at the crack of dawn for a press briefing and you’re not presenting until after 4.30pm!

To whom is it a benefit is a fundamental principle in modern day medicine given the often vast array of options that oncologists may have at their disposal.

Conversely, we also need to know nec refert – for whom it doesn’t matter or doesn’t benefit – since we don’t want to over-treat people either.

Between those two extremes might be a couple of sweetspots i.e. one subset who may need a boost from chemotherapy and another in whom chemo plus IO therapy might be a better option.

For sure, we are not advocating that all people with early stage triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) should receive the same thing and certainly not everyone will need checkpoint therapy, no matter what the intent-to-treat (ITT) curves or response rates might try to imply.

There’s a lot of factors to think about and consider so here we look at the KEYNOTE–522 data in neoadjuvant and adjuvant TNBC and unearthed with some solid evidence that might help us understand and think about what needs to be done.

Following on from our in-depth ESMO19 Preview on TNBC and what to watch out for, we also now have a thought leader interview to share plus several other commentators chipping in…

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New directions in HR-positive breast cancer

It’s time to talk about new developments in breast cancer.

@3NT with Dr Dennis Slamon at ESMO19

This week we will be featuring thought leader interviews with two breast cancer specialists as we look at new data in different subsets of this disease, in both early and metastatic settings.

We like to ring the changes with invited guests on BSB who comment on trial results and offer broader perspectives on their specialist field as well.

One expert is someone neither of us has ever interviewed before, while the other returns for an update on an early trial that is showing promise. Both interviews were conducted under embargo ahead of their presentations in Barcelona.

One of the myriad of challenges in oncology R&D is the tendency to begin exploration in the most advanced form of the disease with monotherapy to determine single agent activity and then work up to earlier lines of therapy with combinations evolving over time.

While it is always good to see proof that people are living longer with particular approaches, there is a real need to keep one’s eyes out on the horizon for new developments that may extend overall survival further.

What should those regimens look like and what are rational choices based on the underlying biology of the disease rather than being explored because that’s what a particular sponsor happens to have in their pipeline? We were delighted to have the opportunity for a much broader discussion some of these opportunities with today’s key opinion leader, Dr Dennis Slamon of UCLA, who presented data in an ESMO Presidential symposium and also talked about other topics in breast cancer research with BSB.

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Controversies in triple negative breast cancer at ESMO19

One of the expected highlights of the forthcoming European Society for Medical Oncology (Twitter #ESMO19) will be data for breast cancer immunotherapy.

In the first of our pre-ESMO19 previews we are taking a closer look at three breast cancer immunotherapy presentations that we think are noteworthy.

As a reminder, the abstracts are not yet available, so we’re not writing about data that’s not yet been presented, but instead are looking at why the presentations may be of scientific/medical interest, and what the questions we hope they will answer. In cancer biology as we heard from Professor Gerard Evan in a recent expert interview, it’s not about “what” happened, but “why”?

We have “boots on the ground” in Barcelona from Sept 27th to October 1st providing daily posts for BSB subscribers with our unique blend of data, analysis and commentary.

Do download the ESMO19 app if you want to check out what already looks like it will be a busy, informative and interesting congress in Barcelona. Hopefully the rain that struck the recent World Lung meeting in Barcelona will have gone away, leaving us with a sunny and dry spell one normally associates with Spain!

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Did the SOPHIA data set the house on fire?

Chicago – Having stayed until the last morning of the last day for a final expert interview and sessions on CAR-T therapy and metastatic breast cancer, there were certainly some interesting targets and findings to discuss in the post meeting analysis.

I particularly wanted to post some thoughts and commentary on the ongoing Macrogenics story around margetuximab, an anti-HER2 antibody that binds with elevated affinity to both the lower and higher affinity forms of CD16A, an Fc receptor.

In our last review in February, we noted that the company “could miss on PFS and have to wait for OS down the road,” which wasn’t far off given the rather weak PFS benefit of 0.9 months announced on May 15th.

We finally got to see the initial SOPHIA data presented at ASCO this morning by Dr Hope Rugo (UCSF), so what did we learn?

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SABCS18 An in-depth review of key breast cancer trials

San Antonio – As the Fall conference season is rapidly drawing to a close, it’s time to highlight some key findings on breast cancer from the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

In this in-depth post where we explore the breast cancer landscape in terms of updates on key trials that stood out as well as highlights from several thought leader interviews on translational and clinical aspects of the disease.

We also explore some important biological and biomarker aspects to think about in future IO trials.

Are you ready? Let’s roll!

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SABCS17 Update on CDK4/6 Inhibitors

It’s one of those truly crazy busy times of the year with no less than three cancer conferences going on this week alone in different cities and time zones. I’ve also been busy scheduling and conducting phone interviews for these events.  More than once have I dialled the wrong number or access code or got briefly confused by time zone changes (CT and CEST?!) and misread the interview at the wrong time… and was that 4.30pm ET or CT?

River Walk, San Antonio, Texas

One of those… If it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium moments to be sure.

Thankfully, everyone has been very thoughtful and helpful and I haven’t managed to get the expert names incorrect (yet)!

Today, I want to take a break from the ASH17 coverage and switch horses from hematologic malignancies to breast cancer and from Atlanta to San Antonio, as there is some important new data emerging from the Lone Star state.

In particular, one of the top posts of 2016 on BSB was on CDK4/6 inhibitors so it’s time for an update on this and some other key studies!

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August 2017 BSB Journal Club on Breast Cancer

Recently there has been a glut of encouraging new research published on the topic of breast cancer that is well worth perusing as a group, since new combination studies may emerge from these kind of data.

In this month’s Journal Club edition, we explore five such articles plus some related research in support of the main themes.

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