Novartis' Kisqali Combo Therapy Extends Survival By One Year In Breast Cancer Patients

Novartis AG NVS announced results of the final overall survival (OS) analysis of Phase 3 MONALEESA-2 study, which evaluated Kisqali (ribociclib) in combination with letrozole in breast cancer patients.
The trial compared the combination therapy to placebo plus letrozole in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer with no prior systemic treatment for advanced disease.
The data were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress (ESMO21) 2021.
The analysis found that after a median follow-up of over 6.5 years, the longest for any CDK4/6 inhibitor trial to date, the improvement in the median OS was over one year.
Patients who took Kisqali lived a median of 63.9 months, compared with 51.4 months on letrozole alone.
After five years, the data showed that Kisqali/letrozole combo had more than a 50% chance of survival (52.3% vs. 43.9%).
A 12-month delay in time to chemotherapy was observed with Kisqali (median 50.6 vs. 38.9 months) compared to those taking letrozole alone. No new safety signals were observed.
Price Action: NVS stock is down 0.89% at $82.74 during the market session on the last check Monday.
Check out our coverage of the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress (ESMO21).