Novartis wants to blaze a trail in breast cancer with PIK3 drug

Novartis is preparing to file its PIK3 drug combination for a certain group of breast cancer patients, after late stage trial results showed its alpelisib combination stopped the disease progressing for twice as long as standard therapy, with “manageable” side effects. Drugs from this class are of interest to pharma because they target a common mutation, which occurs in around 40% of advanced breast cancer patients, and is associated with a poor prognosis. But getting PIK3 drugs to work with tolerable side effects has been tough – Gilead’s PI3K drug Zidelig (idelalisib) is used in leukemia but has boxed warnings because of its side effects.