Novartis’ breast cancer drug cuts risk of death by 19% after six years, data shows

By Bhanvi Satija

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ drug Kisqali helped extend survival for women with a form of high-risk, early-stage breast cancer, cutting their risk of death by 19% after six years, according to trial data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Madrid on Friday.

• At six years, 91.9% of women who received Kisqali and hormone therapy were alive compared with 89.7% of those who received hormone therapy alone

• The survival gap grew from 1.2 percentage points at five years to 2.1 points at six years.

• The initial expectation was that it would take about 10 years of follow-up to show a survival difference. “Turns out we’re seeing a difference even sooner,” said UCLA’s Dennis Slamon, the trial’s lead investigator

• Kisqali works by slowing cancer cells rather than killing them immediately. The longer cancer cells stay frozen, the more likely they are to permanently stop dividing and die

• The drug is already approved in the US and EU for patients with stage 2 or 3 breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.

• Analysts expect sales of the drug to be about $7 billion for this year, according to Visible Alpha estimates.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)