Phase III Study Comparing the Efficacy and Safety of LA-EP2006 and Neulasta®

A Randomized, Double-blind, Parallel-group, Multi-center Phase 3 Comparative Study Investigating Efficacy and Safety of LA-EP2006 and Neulasta® in Breast Cancer Patients Treated With Myelosuppressive Chemotherapy

The study will assess the efficacy of LA-EP2006 compared to Neulasta® with respect to the mean duration of severe neutropenia during treatment with myelosuppressive chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.

This randomized, double-blind trial compared the proposed biosimilar LA-EP2006 with the reference Neulasta® in women (≥18 years) receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. Therefore patients were randomized to receive LA-EP2006 (n = 159) or the reference product (n = 157) for ≤6 cycles of (neo)-adjuvant TAC (docetaxel 75mg/m^2, doxorubicin 50 mg/m^2, and cyclophosphamide 500mg/m^2) chemotherapy. The primary end point was the duration of severe neutropenia (DSN) during Cycle 1 (defined as number of consecutive days with absolute neutrophil count <0.5 × 10^9/l). The equivalence was confirmed if 95% CIs were within a ±1 day margin. LA-EP2006 was equivalent to the reference product in DSN (difference: 0.07 days; 95% CI [-0.12, 0.26]). Further, LA-EP2006 and the reference Neulasta® showed no clinically meaningful differences regarding efficacy and safety.

Inclusion Criteria:

• histologically proven breast cancer
• eligible for six cycles of neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy

Exclusion Criteria:

• concurrent or prior chemotherapy for breast cancer
• concurrent or prior anti-cancer treatment for breast cancer such as endocrine therapy, immunotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, and/or biological therapy
• concurrent prophylactic antibiotics
• previous therapy with any G-CSF (granulocyte-colony stimulating factor) product

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply.