STAT+: Breast cancer pill from AstraZeneca misses mark in pivotal trial

STAT PlusPharma Breast cancer pill from AstraZeneca misses mark in pivotal trial The company is continuing to test the drug, called Etcamah, in early-stage disease Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Andrew JosephSept. 12, 2026 Europe Correspondent Andrew Joseph[email protected]Andrew covers the biopharma industry, scientific research, and public health across the continent. You can reach Andrew confidentially on Signal at drewqjoseph.71.

LONDON — AstraZeneca said Friday that a breast cancer pill failed in a pivotal trial testing it as a first-line therapy in advanced tumors, a result that could limit the use of the medicine. The drug, camizestrant, in combination with another medicine did not outperform standard treatment on a measure of how long patients went before their cancer progressed. The SERENA-4 trial enrolled patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced cancer who hadn’t had another systemic therapy for advanced disease.Advertisement Camizestrant earlier this month won accelerated approval in the U.S.

as Etcamah as a treatment for patients who develop a mutation in their tumors that’s a sign of emerging drug resistance. The SERENA-4 trial, had it been successful, could have opened up a much larger market for the drug. STAT+ Exclusive Story Already have an account?

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