Sacituzumab govitecan, sold under the brand name Trodelvy by

Gilead Sciences Gilead Sciences, Inc. () is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and CO ...

, is a

Trop-2 Tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2, also known as Trop-2 and as epithelial glycoprotein-1 antigen (EGP-1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TACSTD2'' gene. This intronless gene is located at the short arm of chromosome 1 ...

-directed

antibody An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, includin ...

and

topoisomerase inhibitor Topoisomerase inhibitors are chemical compounds that block the action of topoisomerases, which are broken into two broad subtypes: type I topoisomerases (TopI) and type II topoisomerases (TopII). Topoisomerase plays important roles in cellular rep ...

drug conjugate used for the treatment of

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

triple-negative breast cancer Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is any breast cancer that either lacks or shows low levels of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression and/or gene amplification (i.e ...

and metastatic urothelial cancer. The most common side effects include

nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. It can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the throat. Over 30 d ...

neutropenia Neutropenia is an abnormally low concentration of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) in the blood. Neutrophils make up the majority of circulating white blood cells and serve as the primary defense against infections by destroying bacteria ...

diarrhea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

fatigue Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a signs and symptoms, symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself. Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated wit ...

anemia Anemia (also spelt anaemia in British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen. This can be due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin availabl ...

vomiting Vomiting (also known as emesis, puking and throwing up) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteritis, pre ...

alopecia Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarring ...

(hair loss),

constipation Constipation is a bowel dysfunction that makes bowel movements infrequent or hard to pass. The Human feces, stool is often hard and dry. Other symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, and feeling as if one has not completely passed the ...

decreased appetite Anorexia is a medical term for a loss of appetite. While the term outside of the scientific literature is often used interchangeably with anorexia nervosa, many possible causes exist for a loss of appetite, some of which may be harmless, while o ...

rash A rash is a change of the skin that affects its color, appearance, or texture. A rash may be localized in one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, chapped, dry, cracke ...

and

abdominal pain Abdominal pain, also known as a stomach ache, is a symptom associated with both non-serious and serious medical issues. Since the abdomen contains most of the body's vital organs, it can be an indicator of a wide variety of diseases. Given th ...

. Sacituzumab govitecan has a boxed warning about the risk of severe

(abnormally low levels of white blood cells) and severe diarrhea. Sacituzumab govitecan may cause harm to a developing fetus or newborn baby. Sacituzumab govitecan was approved for medical use in the United States in April 2020, and in the European Union in November 2021. The U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) and the

European Medicines Agency The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of pharmaceutical products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products ...

(EMA) consider it to be a

first-in-class medication A first-in-class medication is a prototype drug that uses a "new and unique mechanism of action" to treat a particular medical condition. While the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research tracks first-in-class medic ...

Medical uses

Sacituzumab govitecan is

indicated In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis ...

for the treatment of adults with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who received at least two prior therapies for metastatic disease; people with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) who have received two or more prior systemic therapies, at least one of them for metastatic disease; and for people with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC) who previously received a platinum-containing chemotherapy and either a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) or a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor. It is also indicated for the treatment of people with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative (IHC 0, IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) breast cancer who have received endocrine-based therapy and at least two additional systemic therapies in the metastatic setting.

Mechanism

Sacituzumab govitecan is a conjugate of the humanized anti-

monoclonal antibody A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Monoclonal antibodie ...

linked with

SN-38 SN-38 is an antineoplastic drug. It is the active metabolite of irinotecan (an analog of camptothecin - a topoisomerase I inhibitor) but has 1000 times more activity than irinotecan itself. In vitro cytotoxicity assays show that the potency of SN- ...

, the active metabolite of

irinotecan Irinotecan, sold under the brand name Camptosar among others, is an anti-cancer medication used to treat colon cancer and small cell lung cancer. For colon cancer it is used either alone or with fluorouracil. For small cell lung cancer it is ...

. Each antibody having on average 7.6 molecules of SN-38 attached. Linkage to an antibody allows the drug to specifically target cells expressing Trop-2. Sacituzumab govitecan is a Trop-2-directed antibody and topoisomerase inhibitor drug conjugate, meaning that the drug targets the Trop-2 receptor that helps the cancer grow, divide and spread, and is linked to topoisomerase inhibitor, which is a chemical compound that is toxic to cancer cells. Approximately two of every ten breast cancer diagnoses worldwide are triple-negative. Triple-negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that tests negative for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein. Therefore, triple-negative breast cancer does not respond to hormonal therapy medicines or medicines that target HER2.

Development

Immunomedics Immunomedics was a biotechnology company focused on the development of antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of cancer. In 2020, the company was acquired by Gilead Sciences. History Immunomedics was founded in July 1982 by David M. Goldenb ...

announced in 2013, that it had received

fast track Fast Track, Fast track, or Fasttrack may refer to: Processes and systems * Fast track (FDA), a U.S. Food and Drug Administration expedited review program * Fast track (trade), the authority of the U.S. President to broker trade agreements with lim ...

designation from the US

(FDA) for the compound as a potential treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, and metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

Orphan drug An orphan drug is a medication, pharmaceutical agent that is developed to treat certain rare medical conditions. An orphan drug would not be profitable to produce without government assistance, due to the small population of patients affected by th ...

status was granted for small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. In February 2016, Immunomedics announced that sacituzumab govitecan had received an FDA

breakthrough therapy Breakthrough therapy is a United States Food and Drug Administration designation that expedites drug development that was created by Congress under Section 902 of the 9 July 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The FDA's "b ...

designation (a classification designed to expedite the development and review of drugs that are intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition) for the treatment of people with triple-negative breast cancer who have failed at least two other prior therapies for metastatic disease.

History

Sacituzumab govitecan was added to the proposed International nonproprietary name (INN) list in 2015, and to the recommended list in 2016. Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was approved for medical use in the United States in April 2020. Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was approved based on the results of IMMU-132-01, a multicenter, single-arm clinical trial (NCT01631552) of 108 participants with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who had received at least two prior treatments for metastatic disease. Of the 108 participants involved within the study, 107 were female and 1 was male. Participants received sacituzumab govitecan-hziy at a dose of 10milligrams per kilogram of body weight intravenously on days one and eight every 21 days. Treatment with sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Tumor imaging was obtained every eight weeks. The efficacy of sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was based on the overall response rate (ORR) – which reflects the percentage of participants that had a certain amount of tumor shrinkage. The ORR was 33.3% (95% confidence interval I 24.6 to 43.1). Additionally, with the 33.3% of study participants who achieved a response, 2.8% of participants experienced complete responses. The median time to response in participants was 2.0 months (range, 1.6 to 13.5), the median duration of response was 7.7 months (95% confidence interval I 4.9 to 10.8), the median progression free survival was 5.5 months, and the median overall survival was 13.0 months. Of the participants that achieved an objective response to sacituzumab govitecan-hziy, 55.6% maintained their response for six or more months and 16.7% maintained their response for twelve or more months. Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was granted

accelerated approval The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated the FDA Accelerated Approval Program in 1992 to allow faster approval of drugs for serious conditions that fill an unmet medical need. The faster approval relies on use of surrogate end ...

along with

priority review Priority review is a program of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite the review process for drugs that are expected to have a particularly great impact on the treatment of a disease. The priority review voucher program ...

, and

designations. The U.S.

(FDA) granted approval of Trodelvy to Immunomedics, Inc. In April 2021, the FDA granted regular approval to sacituzumab govitecan for people with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) who have received two or more prior systemic therapies, at least one of them for metastatic disease. Efficacy and safety were evaluated in a multicenter, open-label, randomized trial (ASCENT; NCT02574455) conducted in 529 participants with unresectable locally advanced or mTNBC who had relapsed after at least two prior chemotherapies, one of which could be in the neoadjuvant or adjuvant setting, if progression occurred within twelve months. Participants were randomized (1:1) to receive sacituzumab govitecan, 10mg/kg as an intravenous infusion, on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day (n=267) cycle or physician's choice of single agent chemotherapy (n=262). In April 2021, the FDA granted accelerated approval to sacituzumab govitecan for people with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC) who previously received a platinum-containing chemotherapy and either a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) or a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor. Efficacy and safety were evaluated in TROPHY (IMMU-132-06; NCT03547973), a single-arm, multicenter trial that enrolled 112 participants with locally advanced or mUC who received prior treatment with a platinum-containing chemotherapy and either a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor. In February 2023, the FDA approved sacituzumab govitecan for people with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative (IHC 0, IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) breast cancer who have received endocrine-based therapy and at least two additional systemic therapies in the metastatic setting.

Society and culture

Legal status

On 14 October 2021, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the

(EMA) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Trodelvy, intended for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Text was copied from this source which is copyright European Medicines Agency. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged. The applicant for this medicinal product is Gilead Sciences Ireland UC. Sacituzumab govitecan was approved for medical use in the European Union in November 2021.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacituzumab Govitecan Antibody-drug conjugates Cancer treatments Monoclonal antibodies for tumors Orphan drugs