AstraZeneca beats Roche twice in a day

Oral selective oestrogen receptor degraders, or Serds, had been looking like one of the more disappointing cancer classes of recent times. So Astrazeneca’s news of a win with its contender camizestrant in ER-positive, Her2-negative breast cancer today came as a surprise.

Not only that, but Astra today scored a second victory, with its Akt inhibitor capivasertib coming up positive in the same breast cancer setting. Both results will come as a blow for Roche, whose own Akt inhibitor, ipatasertib, has effectively been written off; and the Swiss group is one of two companies to have had setbacks with Serds.