Noted

Boehringer Ingelheim will pay $1.5 billion to acquire NBE Therapeutics, based in Basel, Switzerland. Boehringer will gain access to NBE's platform for developing antibody–drug conjugates, as well its drug pipeline. NBE's agent for triple-negative breast cancer, NBE-002, is in early clinical trials, and four other agents are in discovery or undergoing preclinical testing.

The FDA approved the monoclonal antibody margetuximab-cmkb (Margenza; MacroGenics) plus chemotherapy in patients with metastatic, HER2-positive breast cancer who have already received anti-HER2 therapies. The approval was based on the phase III SOPHIA trial, in which patients treated with the investigational combination had a median progression-free survival of 5.8 months, compared with 4.9 months in patients who received trastuzumab plus chemotherapy.

Postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer and a low risk of recurrence may not need adjuvant chemotherapy, according to data presented at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held December 8–12. The phase III RxPONDER trial enrolled 5,083 women with HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer involving one to three lymph nodes, all of whom had a recurrence score of 25 or less. In postmenopausal women, adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve 5-year invasive disease-free survival compared with no treatment.

The FDA approved relugolix (Orgovyx; Myovant Sciences) for patients with advanced prostate cancer based on the phase III HERO trial N Engl J Med 2020;382:2187–96). That research concluded that patients taking the agent had a chemical castration rate of 96.7% at 48 weeks compared with 88.8% in patients who received standard leuprolide acetate injections. Relugolix is an oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonist.

The U.S. Congress approved the Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Research Act. The law requires the government to publish a report on federally funded cancer trials outlining barriers to participation for patients from diverse backgrounds, as well as strategies for increasing diversity. The legislation honors Lacks, whose cancer cells were taken without her consent and used to create the HeLa cell line.

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