Enhertu reduced disease recurrence risk by 53% in high-risk early breast cancer

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo announced that their jointly developed drug Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) has shown significant benefits in treating high-risk HER2-positive early breast cancer following neoadjuvant therapy. The DESTINY-Breast05 Phase III trial indicated that Enhertu reduced the risk of invasive disease recurrence or death by 53% compared to trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), the current standard treatment in this setting.

At three years, the invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) rate was 92.4% for patients treated with Enhertu, compared to 83.7% for those treated with T-DM1. The study also reported that Enhertu lowered the risk of distant recurrence by 51% and the risk of brain metastases by 36%.

These findings from DESTINY-Breast05 were presented at the ESMO Presidential Symposium alongside data from the DESTINY-Breast11 trial. Clinical investigators and company leadership suggest these results position Enhertu as a potential foundational treatment in curative-intent early breast cancer.

While overall survival data were not yet mature, the IDFS results represent a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement. The safety profile of Enhertu in this trial is still under evaluation as part of ongoing analyses.