Dive Brief:

• Bristol Myers Squibb on Thursday touted the results of a Chinese study that showed positive results for a cancer treatment it licensed in 2023.
• Researchers tested the drug, iza-bren, in patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer whose disease had progressed after previous therapy. They found that the experimental medication improved the chances of progression-free survival and overall survival, compared with chemotherapy.
• Sichuan Biokin, the parent company of Bristol Myers’ partner SystImmune, sponsored the study in mainland China. Outside of the country, Bristol Myers and SystImmune are co-developing the drug under an agreement that could potentially be worth more than $8 billion.

Dive Insight:

The study is another win for antibody drug conjugates, a class that has generated considerable attention among drugmakers in recent years. Bristol Myers, Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Gilead and Eli Lilly are among the major pharmaceutical companies that have inked deals to gain access to the medicines, which have spurred startups aiming to take the technology a step further. 

The drugs offer the promise of more targeted care for patients instead of traditional chemotherapy. The antibodies can bind to cancer cells and unleash toxins directly into them, sparing the healthy tissue that often falls victim to a blast of chemotherapy. 

It’s an approach that has already seen great success. A leader in the class, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu, targets HER2, a protein that is overexpressed in as much as a fifth of breast cancers. Initially approved in 2019, Enhertu is generating billions of dollars in sales and changing the way certain breast cancers are treated.

Iza-bren is among a number of experimental medicines designed to improve on the basic idea of antibody drug conjugates. Instead of one target, iza-bren seeks out two, EGFR and HER3. Both are highly expressed in a range of cancers, Bristol Myers said. 

The Chinese study focused specifically on patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Bristol Myers and SystImmune are also developing the medicine for other indications, including lung cancer. And in China, two applications for the drug for nasopharyngeal carcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma have already been accepted for review.

With its regulatory flexibility and lower costs, China has become a top destination for drugmakers like Bristol Myers looking to beef up their pipelines. Bristol Myers has struggled with looming patent expirations and clinical setbacks. But executives say the company is entering a “data-rich” period that will yield a younger and more diverse portfolio for the future.