Bria-IMT Combo Outperforms Other Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatments

Treatment with Bria-IMT plus check point inhibitor therapy demonstrated a median overall survival which outperformed that of antibody-drug conjugate treatments in patients with hormone receptor (HR)–positive metastatic breast cancer, according to a news release from BriaCell Therapeutics Corp.

“We are truly impressed with the survival benefit data of the regimen that exceeds or meets those of Trodelvy [sacituzumab govitecan-hziy] in [patients with] HR-positive and [triple-negative], metastatic breast cancer, respectively. Bria-IMT appears to be very well-tolerated,” Dr. William V. Williams, president and CEO of BriaCell Therapeutics, stated in the news release. “We look forward to further confirming this clinical data in our ongoing pivotal phase 3 study with overall survival as its primary endpoint.”

During the phase 2 study, Bria-IMT plus check point inhibitor therapy showed a median overall survival of 17.3 months for patients with breast cancer who had received a median of six prior lines of therapy. In comparison, Trodelvy showed a median overall survival of 14.4 months for patients with a median of four prior lines of therapy and 11.3 months for those receiving single-agent chemotherapy with a median of four prior lines of therapy.

For patients with triple-negative breast cancer, Bria-IMT plus check point inhibitor therapy resulted in a median overall survival of 11.4 months following a median of six prior lines of therapy. Trodelvy showed a median overall survival of 11.8 months for patients with triple-negative breast cancer with a median of three prior chemotherapy-containing regimens and 6.9 months for those receiving single-agent chemotherapy with a median of three prior chemotherapy-containing regimens.

“HR-positive and [triple-negative] metastatic breast cancer represents a significant proportion of the patient population and are the most difficult patient groups to treat. They have limited therapeutic options and overall survival of only a few months,” Dr. Giuseppe Del Priore, BriaCell’s chief medical officer, said in the news release. “Our clinical data supports our hypothesis that the Bria-IMT regimen plus check point inhibitor therapy has the potential to address the unmet medical needs of patients with HR-positive and [triple-negative] metastatic breast cancer, providing an effective and well-tolerated therapeutic option.”

The phase 2 study enrolled 54 heavily pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer (median of six prior therapies) who received the Bria-IMT regimen plus a checkpoint inhibitor. Of those, 37 were treated with the formulation being used in BriaCell’s ongoing phase 3 study in metastatic breast cancer. No treatment discontinuations related to Bria-IMT have been reported.

Bria-IMT is an off-the-shelf, cell-based immunotherapy for metastatic breast cancer. The therapy is a genetically engineered human breast cancer cell line with immune cell features and is used as a targeted treatment.

HR-positive breast cancer describes cells with proteins that bind to specific hormones, according to the National Cancer Institute. For example, some breast cancer cells have receptors for estrogen or progesterone. These cells are hormone receptor positive and rely on those hormones to grow, which can influence treatment decisions. Knowing if a cancer is hormone receptor positive may help guide care.

Furthermore, the National Cancer institute defines triple-negative breast cancer as a type of breast cancer in which the tumor cells do not have estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors or large amounts of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 on their surface. Knowing whether breast cancer is triple negative is important in planning treatment.

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