Amgen's Investigational Bemarituzumab Receives Breakthrough Therapy Designation

(RTTNews) - Amgen (AMGN) Monday announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough therapy designation for investigational bemarituzumab as treatment for patients with gastric and gastroesophageal cancers.

The FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation for investigational bemarituzumab as first-line treatment for patients with fibroblast growth factor receptor 2b (FGFR2b) overexpressing and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative metastatic and locally advanced gastric and gastroesophageal (GEJ) adenocarcinoma in combination with modified FOLFOX6 (fluoropyrimidine, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin), based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic assay showing at least 10% of tumor cells overexpressing FGFR2b.

Breakthrough Therapy designation is a process designed to expedite the development and review of drugs that are intended to treat a serious condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy on a clinically significant endpoint.

"The FIGHT trial is the first study to evaluate targeting the overexpression of FGFR2b in cancer. Bemarituzumab demonstrated clinically meaningful outcomes in key endpoints for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal cancer as a frontline therapy," said David M. Reese, M.D., executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. "Amgen looks forward to further investigating the role of FGFR2b and will continue to work with regulatory agencies on next steps to bring this potential first-in-class, frontline therapy to patients."