Sanofi scraps development of amcenestrant breast cancer treatment

In March, Sanofi's shares were hit when the company announced a first setback linked to the development of the drug during a second-phase study. Amcenestrant belongs to a drug class known as selective oestrogen receptor degraders (SERD) to fight tumours that grow in response to oestrogen, which are estimated to account for up to 80% of all breast cancer cases.


Reuters | Paris | Updated: 17-08-2022 11:53 IST | Created: 17-08-2022 11:51 IST
Sanofi scraps development of amcenestrant breast cancer treatment
Sanofi
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French healthcare company Sanofi said it would end the development programme of amcenestrant, an oestrogen receptor degrader aimed at treating breast cancer. The move puts more pressure on Sanofi to revive its drug development success rate, after it fell far behind in the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines.

"This was a flagship drug in pipeline and important oncology asset," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Jo Walton, who viewed the update as a "clear negative". Sanofi said the drug, which was used in combination with an agent known as palbociclib in the study, "did not meet the prespecified boundary for continuation in comparison with the control arm and recommended stopping the trial."

"All other studies of amcenestrant, including in early-stage breast cancer (AMEERA-6), will be discontinued," Sanofi said. In March, Sanofi's shares were hit when the company announced a first setback linked to the development of the drug during a second-phase study.

Amcenestrant belongs to a drug class known as selective oestrogen receptor degraders (SERD) to fight tumours that grow in response to oestrogen, which are estimated to account for up to 80% of all breast cancer cases. The market opportunity for oral SERDs has attracted a range of drugmakers. Sanofi's rivals including Roche and AstraZeneca are working on similar pills.

Separately, the plaintiff in the first lawsuit over the heartburn drug Zantac, which has also been weighing on the French company's shares recently, on Tuesday agreed to drop his case.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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