Corcept: Mifepristone Plus Eribulin Phase 1/2 Trial Trial Results Encouraging

(RTTNews) - Corcept Therapeutics Inc. (CORT), a developer of drugs that treat severe metabolic, psychiatric and oncologic disorders, released efficacy data today from its Phase 1/2 trial of mifepristone to treat patients with metastatic or triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The data were presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

This open-label trial was designed to investigate whether the addition of mifepristone enhances the effect of eribulin, or Halaven, in patients with TNBC whose tumors express GR, one of the receptors to which mifepristone binds.

The trial studied 21 patients with GR positive tumors, one with a GR negative tumor and one whose GR status is not known.

As determined using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors or RECIST, efficacy results showed that four patients exhibited a partial response, defined as a 30 percent or greater reduction in tumor size, eight had stable disease and 11 had progressive disease. One patient - who has exhibited a partial response - continues on therapy.

Joseph Belanoff, Corcept's Chief Executive Officer said, "The results of this trial support our hypothesis that cortisol modulation augments the benefits of chemotherapy in solid-tumor cancers that express the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). As we have mentioned before, we are excited to report that investigators at the University of Chicago are leading a multi-center, placebo-controlled, Phase 2 trial of mifepristone in combination with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) to treat patients with advanced TNBC."