`
`3/29/04 PHARMANIKT (No Page)
`
`
`
`Page 1
`
`3/29/04 Pharma Marketletter (UK) (Pg. Unavail. Online)
`2004 WLNR 21943 944
`
`Loaded Date: 01/21/2009
`
`Pharma Marketletter
`
`Copyright 2004 Marketletter Publications Ltd.
`
`March 29, 2004
`
`AstraZeneca's Faslodex meets unmet need in breast cancer.
`
`Faslodex ( fulvestrant), the first new estrogen receptor antagonist since tamoxifen, has finally been launched by
`
`AstraZeneca in Europe, two years after it has been available in the USA and South America. The product, which
`
`boasts a unique mode of action, is now available in Germany, Sweden and Austria and will be rolled out over the next
`
`year across the whole of the European Umon, including the EU accession countries, Iceland and Norway.
`
`The drug acts by binding to estrogen receptors in breast cancer cells and degrading them. It therefore puts a stop to
`tumor estrogen receptor activity, preventing transcription occurring that promotes cell growth. Unlike aromatase
`
`inhibitors, which prevent the synthesis of estradiol in other body tissues by blocking the aromatase enzyme, Faslodex
`
`does not reduce the normal amount of circulating estradiol needed to help keep a normal lipid profile and healthy
`
`cardiovascular system, prevent vaginal symptoms, maintain bone mineral density and protect cognitive function.
`
`Faslodex is now licensed for post-menopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive locally-advanced or metastatic
`
`breast cancer who have experienced disease progression on or after anti-estrogen therapy. There has been an unmet
`
`need for an effective endocrine therapy which works in women who have become resistant to other hormonal treat-
`
`ments including tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. The potential population for this in Europe is around 120,000
`women.
`
`US medical oncologist John Pippen of Baylor Samrnons Cancer Center, Dallas, said the availability of Faslodex for a
`
`similar indication in the USA has led to rapid uptake among thousands of women. Usually the next step would be
`
`cytoxic chemotherapy treatment but Faslodex offers another strategy to delay this move and so has proved highly
`
`popular. There is no cross-resistance between this drug and other hormonal treatments, he said.
`
`Sales so far "beyond expectations"
`
`Uptake has been "beyond expectation," says the company. Global brand director Sarah Holland says Faslodex has
`
`been AstraZeneca's most successful honnonal cancer treatment at launch in the USA, reaching annual sales of $75
`
`million by its second year.
`
`© 2015 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.
`
`AstraZeneca Exhibit 2066 p. l
`InnoPharma Licensing LLC v. AstraZeneca AB lPR2017-00905
`
`

`

`3/29/04 PHARMAIVIKT (No Page)
`
`Page 2
`
`Speaking at the European launch during the 4th European Breast Cancer Conference in Hamburg, Germany, John
`
`Robertson, head of Nottingham University's breast cancer unit in the UK, said the new drug, administered as a
`
`once-monthly injection, improves 011 tamoxifen because, while it also blocks estrogen uptake by breast timiors it does
`
`not have tamoxifen‘s partial estrogenic activity.
`
`The latter is implicated in tamoxifen complications such as endometrial cancer, venous thrombo-embolism and
`
`stimulation of tumor cells once estrogen receptors start to show resistance following around five years' therapy.
`
`Faslodex is a better tolerated treatment than tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, causing fewer troublesome side
`
`effects in the way of hot flushes, joint disorders and vaginal symptoms.
`
`Kurt Possinger, chairman of the Department of Oncology and Hematology, Huboldt University, Berlin, Germany,
`
`said Faslodex is supported by two large trials comparing it against tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. The drug is
`
`able to shrink breast tumors more than 50%. Compared against the aromatase inhibitor Arimidex (anastrozole), also an
`
`AstraZeneca drug (see page 20), it has a significantly longer duration of response. Prof Possinger already believes it is
`
`a better treatment than other endocrine therapies and could be used in preference to aromatase inhibitors after ta-
`
`moxifen or, eventually, even before tamoxifen. "In my eyes it's the first-line therapy," he concluded.
`
`---- INDEX REFERENCES ---
`
`COIVIPANY: ASTRAZENECA; ASTRAZENECA LTD; ASTRAZENECA SA; ASTRAZENECA PHARMA-
`
`CEUTICALS LP; ASTRAZENECA (NETHERLANDS ANTILLES); ASTRAZENECA (LATVIA); APTTUM
`
`ONCOLOGY; ASTRAZENECA (NICARAGUA); ASTRAZENECA PLC
`
`NEWS SUBJECT: (European Union (IEU94); EU News (lEU58); Major Corporations (1MA93); Health & Family
`
`(1HE30); World Organizations (llN77))
`
`INDUSTRY: (Healthcare Practice Specialties (1HE49); Internal Medicine (IIN54); Physical Science (IPH15);
`
`Pharmaceuticals & Bioteclmology (IPHI3); Science (ISC89); Science & Engineering (ISC33); Oncology & He-
`
`matology (ION95); Healthcare (1HE06); Cancer Drugs (ICA21))
`
`REGION: (Central Europe (ICE50); North America (INO39); USA (1US73); Americas (IAM92); Germany
`
`(lGEl6); Europe (lEU83); Western Europe (lWE4l))
`
`Language: EN
`
`OTHER INDEXING: (4TH EUROPEAN BREAST CANCER; ASTRAZENECA; BAYLOR SAMMONS CANCER
`CENTER; DEPARTMENT OF ONCOLOGY; EU; EUROPEAN UNION; HEMATOLOGY; HUBOLDT UNI-
`
`VERSITY; NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY; UK; USA) (Faslodex; John Pippen; John Robertson; Kurt Possinger;
`
`Possinger; Sarah Holland) (United States; United Kingdom)
`
`© 2015 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.
`
`AstraZeneca Exhibit 2066 p. 2
`
`

`

`3/29/04 PHARMAMKT (No Page)
`
`Page 3
`
`KEYWORDS: (Business, international); (Product introduction); (New Products/Services); (FaslodeX (Medication));
`
`(Faslodex (Medication) - Product introduction); (Product introduction); (Pharmaceutical industry); (Pharmaceutical
`
`industry - Product introduction)
`
`COlVIPANY TERMS: ASTRAZENECA PLC
`
`TICKER SYlVIBOL: AZN
`
`Word Count: 732
`
`3/29/04 PHARMAMKT (No Page)
`END OF DOCUMENT
`
`© 2015 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.
`
`AstraZeneca Exhibit 2066 p. 3
`
`