ESMO 2014: Eisai's Halaven could provide better quality of life for breast cancer patients

Data posters presented at this year’s European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Madrid, Spain, provide further evidence on the efficacy and quality of life profile of Halaven (eribulin) in the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Some 30% of breast cancer patients will develop MBC, and both patients and clinicians are aware of the impact of cancer treatment on quality of life. Quality of life while on Halaven was studied in two separate Phase III trials carried out by Japanese drugmaker Eisai (TYO: 4523). The results of a pooled analysis of eribulin from two pivotal Phase III trials, EMBRACE and Study 301, show that the drug improves significantly overall survival (OS) following at least one prior chemotherapy in women with locally advanced or MBC, compared with other standard therapies. This OS benefit is seen in women with human epidermal growth-factor receptor-2 (HER2) negative, hormone receptor (HR) positive, HR negative and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Treatment differences are not significant in women with HER2 positive MBC.

Quality of Life