Gilead says drug delayed tumor growth in aggressive form of breast cancer

Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

Gilead Sciences said Monday that a combination of its cancer drug Trodelvy and Merck’s Keytruda delayed the growth of tumors in women with a less common, but aggressive form of breast cancer.

The results from a randomized Phase 3 study called ASCENT-04 could lead to a new treatment option for patients with newly diagnosed, metastatic, triple-negative breast cancer. Gilead could also benefit from a boost in Trodelvy sales at a time when it faces competition from a similar drug made by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo. 

In the study, the combination of Trodelvy and Keytruda demonstrated a “clinically meaningful” improvement in progression-free survival compared to Keytruda plus chemotherapy — achieving the study’s primary efficacy goal, Gilead said. 

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