Facing increased competition from Novartis’ Kisqali, Eli Lilly has underscored new data showing its drug, Verzenio (abemaciclib), improves overall survival in hormone receptor-positive (HR+), HER2-negative, high-risk early breast cancer when given for two years as part of adjuvant therapy5.
In a key study, 85.5% of patients treated with Verzenio plus hormone therapy were alive without cancer recurrence at four years, compared to 78.6% with hormone therapy alone—a 6.9% absolute improvement1.
Verzenio plus hormone therapy resulted in a 35% reduction in the risk of breast cancer recurrence compared to hormone therapy alone, with the benefit increasing over time from 2 to 4 years in follow-up analyses1.
Most recently, Lilly has emphasized that Verzenio increases overall survival—a critical outcome for marketing and approval—particularly as Novartis’ Kisqali recently received a broader FDA nod for early breast cancer based on the NATALEE trial54.
Novartis’s Kisqali remains the only CDK4/6 inhibitor to show statistically significant overall survival benefit in the first-line advanced setting, but Verzenio’s new data in the adjuvant, high-risk early-breast cancer population supports continued Lilly marketing and clinical relevance24.
Sources:
1. https://verzenio.lilly.com/early-breast-cancer/what-is-verzenio
2. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/handing-novartis-win-lilly-verzenio-barely-misses-overall-survival-goal-first-line-breast
4. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/novartis-heaps-pressure-lilly-broad-fda-approval-kisqali-early-breast-cancer
5. https://www.empr.com/news/abemaciclib-improves-overall-survival-in-hr-her2-high-risk-early-breast-cancer/