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Eisai and Halozyme to evaluate combination drug for treatment of metastatic breast cancer

Eisai and Halozyme Therapeutics have agreed to evaluate the combination of their drugs, Halaven (eribulin) and PEGPH20 (PEGylated recombinant human hyaluronidase), respectively, in the treatment of first line HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

Eisai Head Office

The companies will jointly conduct and share the costs of a Phase Ib/II clinical trial seeking to determine whether the combination therapy can improve overall response rate, in advanced breast cancer patients with high levels of hyaluronan.

Administered intravenously, Halozyme’s investigational drug PEGPH20 targets the degradation of hyaluronan, a glycosaminoglycan or chain of natural sugars throughout the body, that can accumulate around cancer cells to inhibit other therapies.

According to Halozyme, by degrading hyaluronan, PEGPH20 increases blood flow to the tumour which may allow cancer therapies to be more efficiently delivered to their target.

The addition of PEGPH20 to eribulin significantly increased tumour growth inhibition and overall tumour regressions, when compared to eribulin alone, in hyaluronan-rich triple-negative breast preclinical animal models.

Eisai EMEA president and CEO Gary Hendler said: "This is a very important collaboration in our continual drive to beat advanced breast cancer and further confirms the distinct mode of action of eribulin. We look forward to enrolling patients in the clinical trial and obtaining the results."

Eribulin is the first in the halichondrin class of microtubule dynamics inhibitors with a new mechanism of action and it works by inhibition of the growth phase of microtubule dynamics which prevents cell division.

Currently, Eribulin is approved in more than 60 countries around the world, including all of the EU, Canada, US, Russia, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

Halozyme Therapeutics president and CEO Dr Helen Torley said: "This agreement marks the first clinical collaboration agreement for Halozyme and extends the study of PEGPH20 to a substantially wider population of patients with a partner that is a clear leader in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer."


Image: Eisai head office in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: courtesy of Arthena.