Bayer announced positive topline results of the Phase III study OASIS 4 investigating elinzanetant as non-hormonal treatment for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms caused by adjuvant endocrine therapy in women with breast cancer or at high risk of developing breast cancer. Elinzanetant successfully met the primary endpoints of the study demonstrating statistically significant reductions in the frequency of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS, also known as hot flashes) from baseline to week 4 and 12 compared to placebo. The study also achieved all secondary endpoints demonstrating reductions in severity of VMS at week 4 and 12, VMS frequency reduction at week 1 as well as maintaining the effects over the study period.
Elinzanetant also showed improvements of sleep disturbances and menopause-related quality of life at week 12 compared to placebo. The safety profile over 52 weeks observed in the OASIS 4 study is generally consistent with previously conducted studies and published data on elinzanetant in postmenopausal women with VMS. Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women globally with 2.3 million new cases in 2020, with nearly 70% of tumors being hormone-receptor positive. Adjuvant endocrine therapy is well established in guidelines worldwide and routinely prescribed to all women with hormone-positive breast cancer.
Treatment with adjuvant endocrine therapy (such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors) for up to 10 years substantially reduces the breast cancer mortality rate throughout the 2 decades after diagnosis.4 Adjuvant endocrine therapy can also be used as primary prevention, in women at high risk of developing breast cancer. VMS (also referred to as hot flashes) is a common adverse reaction of the adjuvant endocrine therapy, which may affect quality of life and treatment compliance, with potential impact on recurrence and long term outcomes5. There is unmet medical need for an effective non-hormonal treatment for VMS caused by adjuvant endocrine therapy as currently no approved treatment options are available.