#AS­CO21: As­traZeneca's Lyn­parza earns win in ear­ly breast can­cer pa­tients, crack­ing open post-surgery po­ten­tial

Drug­mak­ers’ race to take tar­get­ed can­cer ther­a­pies in­to ear­ly-line pa­tients — be­fore the dis­ease ever spreads or can’t be re­moved sur­gi­cal­ly — has reached a fever pitch in re­cent years as the dream of re­al cures comes clos­er to re­al­i­ty. Eli Lil­ly re­cent­ly scored a big win there in breast can­cer, but As­traZeneca might have its re­sponse lined up with PARP in­hibitor Lyn­parza.

Lyn­parza cut the risk of can­cer re­cur­rence or death by 42% over place­bo in BR­CA-mu­tat­ed, HER2-neg­a­tive breast can­cer pa­tients af­ter surgery — a strong show­ing that could set up a po­ten­tial first-in-class ap­proval in an ag­gres­sive form of the dis­ease and a chal­lenge to Eli Lil­ly’s Verzenio else­where, ac­cord­ing to late break­ing da­ta from the Phase III OLYMPIA study set to be pre­sent­ed at this week­end’s #AS­CO21.

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