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ESMO 2023: key news stories and trials

Written by Jade Parker, Senior Editor
Breast Events coverage Genitourinary Lung News

As the ESMO 2023 Congress (20-24 October, Madrid, Spain) has wrapped up we have collated some of the biggest stories from the plethora of abstracts presented . Let us know if you agree or disagree, and what other stories should make the featured by tagging us @OncologyCentral across our social channels!

ADC… as easy as 1,2,3?

Encouraging progression-free survival results were presented for the TROPION-Breast01 trial. This Phase III trial involves the TROP2-directed DXd ADC, which has been jointly developed by AstraZeneca (Cambridge, UK) and Daiichi Sankyo (Tokyo, Japan). At ESMO 2023, researchers reported a statistically significant benefit of this drug for the treatment of people with HR-positive, HER2-low or negative breast cancer.

Ken Takeshita, Global Head, Oncology R&D, Daiichi Sankyo, commented: “We look forward to realising the full potential of this TROP2-directed antibody drug conjugate across breast cancer subtypes through our ongoing Phase III programme, including two trials in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.”

The power of ADC’s also shone through in the field of urology. Tom Powles presented ground breaking results from the EV-302 trial. Padcev® (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv), a first-in-class ADC that is directed against Nectin-4, reduced the risk of death by 53% in patients treated with Padcev plus Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) compared to chemotherapy.

Sources: www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2023/dato-dxd-improved-pfs-in-breast-cancer.html; www.merck.com/news/merck-announces-phase-3-keynote-a39-ev-302-trial-met-dual-primary-endpoints-of-overall-survival-os-and-progression-free-survival-pfs-in-certain-patients-with-previously-untreated-locally-advanced/

ALINA: unprecedented reduction in risk of disease recurrence reported for certain NSCLC patients

The ALINA trial unquestionably emerged as a focal point during the conference, generating substantial buzz and attention. Phase III data from the trial has demonstrated that Alecensa® (alectinib) reduces the risk of disease recurrence or death by 76% compared with platinum-based chemotherapy in people with completely resected Stage IB to IIIA ALK-positive NSCLC. This is the first and only study to show an improvement in disease-free survival in this patient group. A clinically meaningful improvement of (CNS)-DFS was also observed.

Overall survival data was immature at the reporting, the company states that more upcoming analysis will provide further details on this key outcome. As highlighted by Eric Singhi (MD Anderson, TX, USA) on Twitter (X) questions still remain around the role of adjuvant chemotherapy, the duration of alectinib and the role for ctDNA monitoring. We look forward to seeing this story develop, particularly as the findings are due to be submitted to the US FDA.

Source: www.gene.com/media/press-releases/15008/2023-10-17/genentechs-alecensa-reduces-the-risk-of-

Multiple wins for Johnson & Johnson

The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (NJ, USA) dominated much of ESMO 2023 with impressive results being reported for the MARIPOSA, PAPILLION and THOR-2 trials.

Taking a closer look at the PAPILLION study, J&J reported a 60% reduction in risk of death or disease progression for newly diagnosed advanced or metastatic NSCLC with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations, who were treated with Rybrevant® (amivantamab), paired with chemotherapy.

Building on the momentum of actionable mutations for NSCLC, the MARIPOSA trial highlights a 30% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death for the combination of Rybrevant and Leclaza® (lazertinib) compared to AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso® (osimertinib).

Shifting the focus on to bladder cancer, J&J reported key results at ESMO 2023 for their oral FGFR kinase inhibitor Balversa® (erdafitinib) in the Phase II THOR-2 trial.

Sources: www.jnj.com/new-data-from-phase-3-papillon-study-show-rybrevant-amivantamab-vmjw-plus-chemotherapy-resulted-in-60-percent-reduction-in-risk-of-disease-progression-or-death-in-patients-with-previously-untreated-egfr-exon-20-insertion-mutation-positive-non-small-cell-lung-cancer ; www.jnj.com/results-from-phase-2-thor-2-study-show-improved-rates-of-recurrence-free-survival-in-patients-with-high-risk-non-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer-with-select-fibroblast-growth-factor-receptor-alterations-treated-with-balversa-erdafitinib-versus-chemotherapy

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