A phase 1 study of liposomal irinotecan in patients with advanced breast cancer.
Authors: Ying Fan, Qingyuan Zhang, Min Yan, Xiujuan Qu, Yongmei Yin, Tao Sun, Jin Yang, Ying Wang, Xu Wang, Zhaofeng Niu, Xinshuai Wang, Sanyuan Sun, Weihong Zhao, Yanping Liu, Niu Miao, Zhao Xuemin, Binghe Xu
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2024)

1080 Background: Liposomal irinotecan (HE072) is a liposomal formulation that encapsulates irinotecan in a lipid bilayer vesicle, and as a generic drug, had been approved in China, recently, in patients with pancreatic cancer after gemcitabine treatment. Advanced triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has very poor prognosis and limited treatment choices. Here we present results of breast cancer treated with HE072 in patients with highly pre-treated metastatic TNBC and HER2 negative breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM). Methods: HE072-CSP-002 was a phase 1 study, consisting of two parts, dose escalation and expansion part (part 1) and expansion cohort part (part 2). In part 1, standard 3+3 design was used to investigate up to three dose levels of HE072 (50 mg/m 2 , 70 mg/m 2 and 90 mg/m 2 ), up to 6-9 additional subjects may be enrolled for dose expansion. In part 2, patients were enrolled in two cohorts (TNBC cohort and BCBM cohort), and received HE072 70 mg/m 2 every two weeks (Q2W). The primary endpoints were the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D), and the incidence and severity of treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs). Secondary endpoints included progression free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS). Results: As of June 5th, 2023, 119 patients were enrolled, including 101 patients with TNBC and 18 patients with HER2 negative BCBM (part 1: n=27; part 2: n=92). In the part 1, one dose-limiting toxicity (grade 3 nausea and grade 3 vomiting) was observed at 70 mg/m 2 dose level, and MTD was not reached. A total of 115 patients (96.6%) had at least one TEAEs of any grade, and 55 patients (46.2%) had ≥grade 3 TEAEs. The most common ≥grade 3 TEAEs related to HE072 included neutropenia (21.0%), leukopenia (18.5%), diarrhea (10.1%), anemia (9.2%) and hypokalemia (8.4%). Eighty-three (82.2%) of the 101 patients with TNBC were evaluable for response. After a median follow-up of 10.1 months (range 8.8-10.8), 22 patients (26.5%, 95%CI 17.4-37.3) achieved overall response, which were all partial response and 58 patients (69.9%, 95%CI 58.8-79.5) achieved disease control. The median PFS and OS were 4.8 months (95%CI 3.9-5.8) and 14.1 months (95%CI 11.2-not reached), respectively. 12(66.7%) of the 18 patients with HER2 negative BCBM were evaluable for response. 1 patient (8.3%, 95%CI 0.2, 38.5) achieved overall response, which is partial response and 8 patients (66.7%, 95%CI 34.9, 90.1) achieved disease control. The median PFS was 5.6 months (95%CI 1.4~ not reached), 12-month OS rate was 55.5%. Conclusions: HE072 exhibited excellent antitumor activity in heavily pre-treated patients with TNBC and HER2 negative BCBM with acceptable safety profiles. 70 mg/m 2 Q2W was determined as the RP2D. Further clinical trials are under plan. Clinical trial information: NCT04728035 .