Impressive breast cancer results may or may not change protocol

Novartis breast cancer drug Kisqali impressively extends breast cancer survival among young women who develop the most common form of the disease, a new JAMA study shows. Adding Kisqali to hormone-blocking therapy resulted in a 29% reduction in death. After three and a half years of treatment, about 70% of women receiving the combination therapy survived, compared to just 42% who received standard therapy alone.

Kisqali is a CDK 4/6 inhibitor — a relatively new class of breast cancer drugs. Pfizer’s Ibrance is a similar drug, and brought in some $4.1 billion last year; Kisqali, on the other hand, had sales of just $235 million. These results may or may not change standard of care, and increase Novartis sales of the drug. Trials of CDK 4/6 inhibitors in breast cancer “have all showed very similar results,” one breast cancer oncologist told STAT’s Matt Herper. “To a first- and second-order analysis, the drugs are interchangeable in terms of clinical efficacy as far as we can tell.”