BioNTech challenges AstraZeneca with breast cancer precision drug trial

[January 22, 2024]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - BioNTech and its partner Duality Biologics said on Monday they initiated a late-stage trial testing their precision drug against a certain type of breast cancer, taking on a rival partnership between AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo.

COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech, which is renewing its focus on its traditional roots in oncology, said in a joint statement with China's Duality that their drug would be tested on women with a certain type of advanced breast cancer with low levels of a cell surface receptor known as HER2.

HER2 is a common mechanism of tumour growth that has been targeted by established drugs such as Roche's Herceptin. Partners Astra and Daiichi have taken the concept further with their leading drug Enhertu, based on the antibody-drug conjugate technology, a type of high-precision chemotherapy.

That drug is expected by analysts to generate several billions of dollars in annual revenue, mainly because the drug has been approved to treat a larger population of HER2-type breast cancer patients to include women with low levels of the receptor.

The logo of BioNTech is seen in Marburg, Germany, February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

BioNTech and Duality said the new Phase III trial would test their drug - also an antibody-drug conjugate - on patients whose tumors grow in response to the hormones estrogen or progesterone and which have low levels of HER2.

About 40% to 45% of all patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer meet those criteria, they added.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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