A drug slows the progression of a type of breast cancer in 75,8% of patients

The director of the International Breast Cancer Center (IBCC) and first author of the international clinical trial Destiny Breast-03, Javier Cortés, has highlighted that the drug 'trastuzumab deruxtecan' "improves" progression-free survival of HER2-positive breast cancer in 75,8% of patients.

The magazine 'The New England Journal of Medicine' has published the results of this study which, according to Cortés, are "the most positive in the history" of breast cancer After analyzing the efficacy and safety of the drug, the IBCC reported in a statement this Wednesday.

Of the total, 261 patients were randomly assigned to the arm of the study in which they received 'trastuzumab deruxtecan' and 263 to the treatment arm, until then the standard, consisting of 'trastuzumab emtansine' (TDM-1).

One of the "most important" results of the study has been the improved progression-free survival (i.e., disease control), which was 75,8% in these patients at 12 months, compared to 34,1% in the group of patients treated with 'trastuzumab emtansine'.

The preliminary results of Destiny Breast-03 were presented at the presidential session of the Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (Esmo) last September and their publication now in 'The New England Journal of Medicine' confirms its "solidity". 

"Troy Horse"

It is an immunoconjugate that acts as a "Trojan horse" because circumvents the defenses of tumor cells to enter them and attack them by releasing their cargo, it is composed of a monoclonal antibody (trastuzumab), linked by a linker or union to chemotherapy molecules (deruxtecan).

It is administered by intravenously and travels through the blood to the tumor cells, where it recognizes the entry point of these malignant cells, in this case the HER2 receptor, enters without being detected and releases the chemotherapy it carries to destroy them, without damaging "so much" other cells. healthy