Evaluation of Lasofoxifene Versus Fulvestrant in Advanced or Metastatic ER+/HER2- Breast Cancer With an ESR1 Mutation

This is an open label, randomized, multicenter study evaluating the activity of lasofoxifene relative to fulvestrant for the treatment of pre- and postmenopausal women with locally advanced or metastatic ER+/HER2- breast cancer with an acquired ESR1 mutation and who have disease progression on an aromatase inhibitor (AI) in combination with a cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor.

The primary objective is to evaluate the progression free survival (PFS) of 5 mg lasofoxifene relative to fulvestrant for the treatment of pre- and postmenopausal women with locally advanced or metastatic estrogen receptor positive (ER+)/human epidermal growth factor 2 negative (HER2-) breast cancer with an estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) mutation.

The secondary objectives are to evaluate:

1. Clinical benefit rate (CBR) and Objective Response Rate (ORR)
2. Duration of response
3. Time to response
4. Overall Survival (OS)
5. Pharmacokinetics of lasofoxifene
6. Quality of life (QoL): Quality of Life (QoL): vaginal assessment scale (VAS) and vulvar assessment scale (VuAS) questionnaires
7. Safety of lasofoxifene
8. Response to various ESR1 mutation (Y537S, Y537C, D538G, E380Q, S463P, V534E, P535H, L536H, L536P, L536R, L536Q, or Y537N).

Lasofoxifene is a potent SERM that has demonstrated in non-clinical models to prevent and treat breast cancer. In a large clinical osteoporosis trial, lasofoxifene reduced the incidence of ER+ breast cancer, which most likely represents a beneficial effect on clinically undetectable breast cancer. The clinical and non-clinical results are not unexpected based on the results seen with tamoxifen and fulvestrant as the mechanisms of action are similar. Moreover, the safety profile of lasofoxifene is well established in postmenopausal women and therefore a clinical trial investigating lasofoxifene for the treatment of breast cancer is scientifically justifiable.

Subjects with ESR1 mutations have endocrine resistance and shorter time to progression when treated with currently approved endocrine therapy. There is an unmet medical need for endocrine agents that can provide greater efficacy in this population. Non-clinical in vitro and in vivo studies with lasofoxifene have demonstrated efficacy. If this benefit translates to subjects with ESR1 mutated breast cancer cells, an important treatment option beyond fulvestrant will be available. The population being recruited in this trial are subjects with advanced breast cancer who have been treated with an AI in combination with a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor and who have an ESR1 mutation. The efficacy of endocrine agents in this population has never been prospectively studied. For this reason, this study will evaluate lasofoxifene in a randomized Phase 2 trial against a comparator to better evaluate the magnitude of the effect as well as to provide data to estimate the Phase 3 sample size.

In both non-clinical and clinical studies, fulvestrant has shown activity in ESR1 mutated breast cancer cells and will be used as the comparator in this Phase 2 study to better determine the relative clinical efficacy of lasofoxifene. The FDA approved fulvestrant dose will be used.

A major limiting factor in the administration of fulvestrant is its poor solubility requiring IM injection. The volume of administration limits the dose that can be administered. Initial clinical trials administered 250 mg of fulvestrant in 5 cc of castor oil as a single injection once monthly. Because the IM injections were well tolerated, loading and higher doses were investigated. This was found to have acceptable tolerability and resulted in greater efficacy. Limited by the volume of administration higher doses of fulvestrant cannot be investigated further.

Once the subject has consented to participate in the study, screening tests will be performed within 30 days of enrollment.

All subjects meeting the eligibility criteria will be first stratified into those with visceral metastasis and those without visceral metastasis. Each of these stratified groups will then be further stratified into those with the Y537S ESR1 mutation and those without this particular mutation. Each of the stratified groups will then be randomized 1:1 to receive either 5 mg/d of oral lasofoxifene or fulvestrant 500 mg intramuscular (IM) on Days 1, 15, and 29, then every 4 weeks thereafter. Treatment will continue until radiographic or clinical evidence of disease progression. Enrolled subjects will be seen every 2 weeks for the first month of treatment and then monthly until progression. Efficacy assessments will be done every 8 weeks.

For subjects randomized to lasofoxifene, blood samples will be drawn to assess the population PK. Serum samples will be collected at each visit starting at Visit 0 (Day 1) through Final/ET visit to measure serum lasofoxifene concentration at time points outlined below. Serum samples for PK analysis will be collected before the time that the next lasofoxifene dose is ingested. The actual time and date of dosing on the previous day as well as dosing on the visit day, and the PK blood sampling time/date must be recorded for all subjects. Pharmacokinetic samples are to be collected before clinical lab blood sampling.

A maximum of 100 subjects will be randomized and it is expected that all subjects enrolled in the study will be treated until documented disease progression. It is estimated that full recruitment into the study will occur within 12 to 18 months with another 12 months of follow up before the primary outcome measure is analyzed.