Breast Cancer Patients Who Will Benefit from New Therapy Identified

A companion test is to be developed to determine which breast cancer patients will benefit most from a new breast cancer drug.

The new drug targets the steroid sulfatase enzyme (STS). The role of the cytoplasmic enzyme STS (steroid sulphatase) in supporting steroid synthesis as well as breast tumor growth is now under investigation. Increased STS expression in breast tumors is believed to have prognostic significance.

Ipsen (Paris, France; www.ipsen.com) is conducting clinical studies to investigate the therapeutic benefit of BN 83495, a potent STS inhibitor, in breast cancer patients. A phase I clinical trial with BN 83495 in patients with breast cancer has been completed, and the results demonstrated the inhibition of the sulphatase enzyme at the dosages tested in tumor biopsies.

Ipsen has signed a theragnostics agreement with bioMerieux (Marcy l'Etoile, France). The assay that bioMerieux will develop is intended for both the clinical development of the Ipsen drug as well as a diagnostic test, potentially for future commercialization. The test will be developed on bioMerieux's NucliSENS EasyQ molecular diagnostics platform, using the company's NASBA amplification technology.

The aims of the test are to identify patients who respond to treatment (efficacy tests); identify patients for whom treatment would cause harmful side effects; and to monitor the response to treatment and determine the most effective, nontoxic drug dosage.

Jean-Luc Belingard, chairman and CEO of the Ipsen Group stated, "This innovative collaboration with bioMerieux is designed to help Ipsen accelerate the time-to-market of its potent steroid sulphatase inhibitor compound BN 83495, bringing, as soon as possible, its therapeutic benefits to those breast cancer patients showing potentially responsive clinical profiles.”


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Ipsen
bioMerieux