Eisai’s cancer drug Halaven meets targets in new trial

Eisai has reported that its breast cancer treatment Halaven has met its primary endpoint target in a pivotal phase III clinical trial.

Data from the Embrace study is being published in The Lancet medical journal which demonstrates that the Eisai treatment is able to deliver overall survival benefits to women with late-stage metastatic breast cancer.

The conclusion was reached following a global trial involving 762 patients, which compared the efficacy of Halaven to a control group treated with single-agent therapies selected by physicians.

Halaven has already been approved in the US and Singapore and was recently granted a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use.

A statement from the manufacturer said: "Eisai defines oncology as a therapeutic area of focus and is committed to the development of novel anticancer agents such as Halaven and treatments for supportive care."

In January 2011, the company announced plans to apply for EU and US regulatory clearance for its new epilepsy drug perampanel in the first quarter of the year.