As part of Project Orbis, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Tukysa (tucatinib) in combination with chemotherapy (trastuzumab and capecitabine) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced forms of HER2-positive breast cancer that can’t be removed with surgery, or has spread to other parts of the body, including the brain, and who have received one or more prior treatments.

The FDA collaborated with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Health Canada, Health Sciences Authority (HSA, Singapore) and Swissmedic (SMC, Switzerland) on this review. This is the first Project Orbis partnership between the FDA, HSA and Swissmedic. While the FDA approved Tukysa today, the application is still under review at the other agencies. Collaboration among international regulators may allow patients with cancer to receive earlier access to products in other countries where there may be significant delays in regulatory submissions, regardless of whether the product has received FDA approval. Early availability of new therapies and adoption as standard of care around the world may have an impact on the increasingly international conduct of cancer clinical trials, potentially accelerating the development of anticancer products. With a framework for concurrent submission and review of oncology drugs, Project Orbis facilitates a collaborative review to identify any regulatory divergence across review teams.

“The FDA’s Project Orbis provides a framework for concurrent submission and review of oncology drug applications among the FDA’s international collaborators. We are pleased to work with our Singapore and Switzerland colleagues for the first time, and to continue working alongside our Australian and Canadian colleagues as we facilitate new treatment options for patients – like today’s first new molecular entity under Project Orbis,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence and acting director of the Office of Oncologic Diseases in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “This approval represents an additional targeted treatment option for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. The clinical trial supporting this approval enrolled and specifically studied patients with active brain metastases in addition to the overall population enrolled, which also demonstrated benefit in this subgroup.”

HER2-positive breast cancer, which makes up approximately one-fifth of breast cancers, has too much of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), which promotes the growth of cancer cells. More than 25% of women with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer will develop brain metastases.

Tukysa is a kinase inhibitor meaning it blocks a type of enzyme (kinase) and helps prevent the cancer cells from growing. Tukysa is approved for treatment after patients have taken one or more anti-HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting. The FDA approved Tukysa based on the results of a clinical trial enrolling 612 patients who had HER2-positive advanced unresectable or metastatic breast cancer and had prior treatment with trastuzumab, pertuzumab and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1). Patients with previously treated and stable brain metastases, as well as those with previously treated and growing or untreated brain metastases, were eligible for the clinical trial, and 48% of enrolled patients had brain metastases at the start of the trial.

In addition to the international collaboration with TGA, Health Canada, HSA Singapore and SMC Switzerland, this review used the Real-Time Oncology Review (RTOR) pilot program, which can streamline the submission of data prior to the completion and submission of the entire clinical application. RTOR, as well as the Assessment Aid, facilitated discussions among the regulatory agencies and regulatory review.

The FDA granted approval of Tukysa to Seattle Genetics, Inc.

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