Great Novel Therapeutics Biotech & Medicals Corporation （GNTbm） held a press conference yesterday (7th) to launch the new oral anti-breast cancer drug Kepida, providing an innovative treatment option for HR+/HER-2- advanced breast cancer patients in Taiwan. Kepida is a next-generation histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), Tucidinostat, primarily designed to sensitize endocrine therapy (combined with Exemestane) through its unique epigenetic regulation mechanism. It is intended for the treatment of HR+/HER-2- advanced breast cancer patients who have previously failed or experienced relapse following endocrine therapy.
According to GNTbm, breast cancer has become the most common cancer among women worldwide and in Taiwan. There are more than 15,000 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in Taiwan every year, and about 70% of them have the genotype of HR+/HER-2-. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Cancer Registry, more than 2,000 women die of advanced breast cancer in Taiwan each year. The Company expects that the launch of Kepida will provide new treatment options for more patients with advanced breast cancer in Taiwan.
GNTbm pointed out that many domestic and foreign therapeutic guidelines nowadays recommend that the first-line treatment of HR+/HER-2-advanced breast cancer is mainly based on the combination of CDK4/6 inhibitors and endocrine therapies, which can provide patients with excellent therapeutic benefits. However, once patients have failed the first-line treatment or relapsed into the second-line treatment, the choice of drugs for the patients is very limited, mainly because the problem of resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors and endocrine antidotes becomes very difficult to overcome in subsequent treatment.
GNTbm said that Kepida is the world's first epigenetic modulator for the treatment of HR+/HER-2-advanced breast cancers, and that by sensitising endocrine therapies through its unique epigenetic modulation mechanism, Kepida has the potential to overcome the problem of drug resistance and provide a better therapeutic option for patients with HR+/HER-2-advanced breast cancers.
