Phase III BEACON data on NKTR 102 in Breast Cancer-Nektar Therapeutics

Nektar Therapeutics has presented biomarker data from a sub-study of the Phase III BEACON study of NKTR 102 (etirinotecan pegol) in Breast Cancer. This collected and analyzed circulating tumor cell (CTC) samples from patients in the study. A total of 80% of the 852 patients enrolled in the BEACON trial participated in the CTC sub-study. Among the 627 patients who participated and had evaluable baseline samples, CTCs were detected in 97% of these samples. For the 611 evaluable baseline patient samples which yielded CTCs, potential NKTR 102 target-specific pharmacodynamic biomarkers (Top1, Top2, and Ki67) were detected in the majority of samples. The pharmacodynamic biomarkers assessed in the CTC sub-study were chosen because of their potential ability to predict response to topoisomerase 1 inhibition as well as to measure chemo-sensitivity in metastatic cancer patients.

This sub-study confirmed the presence of several potential target-specific pharmacodynamic biomarkers, such as topoisomerase 1, in the patients and helps researchers understand which additional patient populations would benefit from NKTR 102. The company expects topline results from the BEACON study to be available in the first quarter of 2015. The data were presented during the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.