Eisai And Halozyme Initiate Phase 1b/2 Clinical Trial With First Patient Dosing Of Eribulin In Combination With PEGPH20

SAN DIEGO, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) announced today that Eisai Inc. has dosed the first patient in a collaborative phase 1b/2 clinical trial to assess whether Eisai's eribulin mesylate (HALAVEN^®) in combination with Halozyme's investigational drug PEGPH20 (PEGylated recombinant human hyaluronidase) can improve overall response rate (ORR) – the proportion of women that have a predefined reduction in tumor burden – as compared with eribulin alone as a therapy in women with advanced or metastatic, High-Hyaluronan (HA) HER2-negative breast cancer.

"Initiation of this study is not only a major milestone in our collaboration with Eisai, it underscores our combined focus on advancing the treatment of metastatic breast cancer—one of the most common cancers in women worldwide," said Dr. Helen Torley, president and chief executive officer.

PEGPH20 is an investigational drug administered intravenously that targets the degradation of HA, a glycosaminoglycan – or chain of natural sugars throughout the body – that can accumulate around cancer cells to inhibit other therapies. Eribulin, a synthetic analog of halichondrin B, a natural product that was isolated from the marine sponge Halichondria okadai, is a microtubule dynamics inhibitor with a distinct binding profile that has been shown in in vitro studies to lead to apoptotic cell death after prolonged and irreversible mitotic blockage. In HA-high triple-negative breast preclinical animal models, the addition of PEGPH20 to eribulin showed a significant increase in tumor growth inhibition and overall tumor regression when compared to eribulin alone.

The collaborative study will seek to determine whether or not the combination therapy of eribulin and PEGPH20 can improve the overall response rate in patients with metastatic breast cancer with high levels of HA. The study protocol includes metastatic HER2-negative patients with HA-high breast cancer that were previously untreated and those that received one prior line of therapy.

About Advanced Breast Cancer

Advanced or metastatic breast cancer is a very difficult condition to treat and only 26.3 percent of women will survive beyond five years. (SEER 2016)

About PEGPH20

PEGPH20 is an investigational PEGylated form of Halozyme's proprietary recombinant human hyaluronidase under clinical development for the potential systemic treatment of tumors that accumulate hyaluronan.

FDA granted orphan drug designation to PEGPH20 for treatment of pancreatic cancer and fast track for PEGPH20 in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Additionally, the European Commission, acting on the recommendation from the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products of the European Medicines Agency, designated investigational drug PEGPH20 an orphan medicinal product for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

About Eribulin Mesylate Injection (Available as HALAVEN^®)

Halaven^® (eribulin mesylate) is a microtubule dynamics inhibitor indicated for the treatment of patients with:

• Metastatic breast cancer who have previously received at least two chemotherapeutic regimens for the treatment of metastatic disease. Prior therapy should have included an anthracycline and a taxane in either the adjuvant or metastatic setting.
• Unresectable or metastatic liposarcoma who have received a prior anthracycline-containing regimen.

Discovered and developed by Eisai, eribulin is a synthetic analog of halichondrin B, a natural product that was isolated from the marine sponge Halichondria okadai. First and only in the halichondrin class, eribulin is a microtubule dynamics inhibitor with a distinct binding profile. Eribulin is believed to work primarily via a tubulin-based mechanism that causes prolonged and irreversible mitotic blockage, ultimately leading to apoptotic cell death. Additionally, in preclinical studies of human breast cancer, eribulin demonstrated complex effects on the tumor biology of surviving cancer cells, including increases in vascular perfusion resulting in reduced tumor hypoxia, and changes in the expression of genes in tumor specimens associated with a change in phenotype, promoting the epithelial phenotype, opposing the mesenchymal phenotype. Eribulin has also been shown to decrease the migration and invasiveness of human breast cancer cells.

For more information about eribulin, click here for the full Prescribing Information.

About Eisai Inc.

At Eisai Inc., human health care (hhc) is our goal. We give our first thoughts to patients and their families, and helping to increase the benefits health care provides. As the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., we have a passionate commitment to patient care that is the driving force behind our efforts to discover and develop innovative therapies to help address unmet medical needs.

Eisai is a fully integrated pharmaceutical business that operates in two global business groups: oncology and neurology (dementia-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases). Each group functions as an end-to-end global business with discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing capabilities. Our U.S. headquarters, commercial and clinical development organizations are located in New Jersey; our discovery labs are in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; and our global demand chain organization resides in Maryland and North Carolina. To learn more about Eisai Inc., please visit us at http://us.eisai.com.

About Eisai Co., Ltd. 

Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With approximately 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products to address unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Oncology and Neurology. 

As a global pharmaceutical company, our mission extends to patients around the world through our investment and participation in partnership-based initiatives to improve access to medicines in developing and emerging countries. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit www.eisai.com.

About Halozyme

Halozyme Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing novel oncology therapies that target the tumor microenvironment. Halozyme's lead proprietary program, investigational drug PEGPH20, applies a unique approach to targeting solid tumors, allowing increased access of co-administered cancer drug therapies to the tumor in animal models. PEGPH20 is currently in development for metastatic pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer, metastatic breast cancer and has potential across additional cancers in combination with different types of cancer therapies. In addition to its proprietary product portfolio, Halozyme has established value-driving partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies including Roche, Baxalta, Pfizer, Janssen, AbbVie and Lilly for its ENHANZE™ drug delivery platform. Halozyme is headquartered in San Diego. For more information visit www.halozyme.com.

Safe Harbor Statement 

In addition to historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements (including, without limitation, statements concerning the possible activity, benefits and attributes of PEGPH20, the possible method of action of PEGPH20, its potential application to improve cancer therapies and statements concerning future actions relating to the development of PEGPH20) that involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are typically, but not always, identified through use of the words "believe," "enable," "may," "will," "could," "intends," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "predict," "probable," "potential," "possible," "should," "continue," and other words of similar meaning. Actual results could differ materially from the expectations contained in forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including unexpected expenditures and costs, unexpected results or delays in development and regulatory review, regulatory approval requirements, unexpected adverse events and competitive conditions. These and other factors that may result in differences are discussed in greater detail in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 9, 2016.

The information discussed in this release presents an investigational use for an FDA-approved product (eribulin). It is not intended to convey conclusions about efficacy or safety. There is no guarantee that the investigational use of the combination of eribulin and PEGPH20 will successfully gain FDA approval.

Contacts:
Jim Mazzola
858-704-8122
[email protected]

Chris Burton
858-704-8352
[email protected]

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SOURCE Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.halozyme.com