Phase III Trial of IV Vinflunine Versus an Alkylating Agent in Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer Previously Treated With or Resistant to an Anthracycline, a Taxane, an Antimetabolite, and a Vinca-alkaloid (Study L00070 IN 308 B0)

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women.

Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) remains incurable, and current goals of therapy are to ameliorate symptoms, delay disease progression, improve or at least maintain quality of life (QoL), and prolong overall survival (OS).There are a number of agents with established single-agent activity, with the anthracyclines and taxanes considered generally the most active. In addition, several drugs with different mechanisms of action such as antimetabolites and vinca-alkaloids have also demonstrated substantial activity in the metastatic setting as single-agents or in combination.

In patients who progress after having received anthracyclines, taxanes, antimetabolites and vinca- alkaloids, therapeutic options are scarce. In this heavily pretreated population for whom overall survival is not expected to exceed 6 to 7 months, there is a clear need for novel therapies.

Vinflunine (VFL) is a microtubule inhibitor obtained by semi-synthesis, interacts with tubulin at the vinca-binding domain and inhibits tubulin assembly by perturbing microtubule dynamics and mitotic spindles without affecting assembled microtubules. VFL antitumour activity was fully demonstrated against a large and varied panel of murine and xenograft models.

The main haematological toxicity reported was the neutropenia Grade 3-4 (40-50%). The incidence of its complications (febrile neutropenia and neutropenic infection) was less than 8%. The main non-haematological toxicity Grade 3-4 (with an incidence more than 10%) reported were constipation and fatigue.