ImmunoGen Announces Overall Survival Data Reported for Trastuzumab Emtansine Phase III EMILIA Trial

ImmunoGen

, a biopharmaceutical company that develops anticancer products using its Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology and antibody expertise, today announced the presentation of overall survival (OS) data from the trastuzumab emtansine Phase III trial, EMILIA. Trastuzumab emtansine is in global development by Roche under an agreement between ImmunoGen and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, and utilizes ImmunoGen's TAP technology with the trastuzumab antibody. Genentech and Roche have applied for marketing approval of trastuzumab emtansine in the US and Europe, respectively. The EMILIA trial was designed to evaluate trastuzumab emtansine for the treatment of patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received trastuzumab (Herceptin®) and a taxane. Patients enrolled were randomized to treatment either with trastuzumab emtansine – used alone – or with lapatinib (Tykerb®) plus capecitabine (Xeloda®), standard-of-care in this setting. EMILIA progression-free survival (PFS) and tolerability findings were previously reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in June 2012: patients treated with trastuzumab emtansine had a significant improvement in PFS (hazard ratio=0.65, p<0.0001) and experienced fewer Grade 3 or greater (severe) adverse events (40.8 percent vs. 57.0 percent) than those treated with standard-of-care.1 PFS and OS are co-primary endpoints of the EMILIA trial. The OS data reported today showed that the risk of death was reduced by 32 percent for patients who received trastuzumab emtansine compared to those who received standard-of-care (hazard ratio=0.68, p=0.0006). Patients treated with trastuzumab emtansine survived a median of 5.8 months longer than those who received Tykerb plus Xeloda: median OS was 30.9 months for patients receiving trastuzumab emtansine versus 25.1 months for patients receiving standard-of-care.