Abstract P4-12-29: Assessment of safety and activity in an expanded phase 1 study of MM-302, a HER2-targeted liposomal doxorubicin, in patients with advanced HER2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer

Background: MM-302 is a novel antibody drug conjugate (ADC) combining PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin with anti-HER2 scFvs. MM-302 was designed to overcome the limitations associated with using anthracyclines in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. Anthracyclines have been an effective backbone of breast cancer therapies for decades. However, cardiotoxicity issues associated with free anthracyclines have limited their effective use. While liposomal doxorubicin formulations have succeeded in reducing cardiotoxicity, they have failed to demonstrate clear-cut efficacy advantages. MM-302 specifically targets tumor cells overexpressing HER2 with minimal uptake into normal cells such as cardiomyocytes which express low levels of HER2. This Phase 1 study evaluates the safety of MM-302 in patients with HER2+ advanced breast cancer.

Methods: Patients aged ≥ 18 years with histologically confirmed HER2+ advanced breast cancer that have progressed or recurred on standard therapy or for which no standard therapy exists having measurable disease, adequate performance status, bone marrow reserve and organ function, were eligible for the study. A post-treatment biopsy was required. A 3 + 3 dose escalation design (8, 16, 30, 40 and 50 mg/m2 administered i.v. q4w) is used to identify a Phase 2 dose followed by expansion arms at 40 and 50 mg/m2 for a preliminary indication of activity. Secondary endpoints included determination of dose-limiting toxicity, adverse event(s), and PK of MM-302, as well as overall response and clinical benefit rates of MM-302.

Results: We report data from MM-302 dose levels (30, 40 and 50 mg/m2 as monotherapy) that are expected to be therapeutically relevant. Eight patients dosed at presumed sub-therapeutic dose levels of 8 and 16 mg/m2 were excluded from the efficacy analysis. Patients had received a median of 9.5 prior agents (range 3-19) in all settings. All patients had been treated with trastuzumab, 96% with prior taxanes, 67% lapatinib, 54% anthracyclines and 33% T-DM1. At the time of this analysis (n = 27), overall response rate was 17% (4 out of 24 evaluable patients) and the estimated median Progression Free Survival (PFS) was 5.7 months, with six patients still receiving treatment. Eight patients (30%) had a PFS of greater than 6.0 months. Neutropenia was the most common treatment-related grade 3/4 toxicity and occurred in 15% of patients. The most common adverse events include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. Constipation, stomatitis, headache and rash were also observed in greater than 20% of patients. No patients discontinued treatment for toxicity. There was no protocol defined cardiotoxicity observed across all dose cohorts and five patients have had cumulative anthracycline exposure exceeding 550 mg/m2 without a reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction.

Conclusion: Overall MM-302 appears to be well tolerated with promising activity in this ongoing trial. Further development is continuing combining MM-302 with trastuzumab and/or cyclophosphamide. In addition, we are evaluating the use of PET imaging to correlate liposomal tumor deposition as an additional potential patient preselection strategy.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P4-12-29.