The European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for AbbVie’s ELAHERE (mirvetuximab soravtansine) for the treatment of adult patients with folate receptor-alpha (FRα) positive, platinum-resistant high grade serous epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer who have received one to three prior systemic treatment regimens.
 
ELAHERE is the first and only folate receptor alpha (FRɑ)-directed antibody drug conjugate (ADC) medicine approved in the European Union (EU), as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Northern Ireland. The FDA granted ELAHERE full approval for ovarian cancer earlier this year.
 
Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of death from gynecological cancers worldwide. Most patients present with late-stage disease and will typically undergo surgery followed by platinum-based chemotherapy. Unfortunately, most patients eventually develop platinum-resistant disease. Historically, treatment options for patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC) have been limited, and those available often result in adverse events which can negatively impact quality of life.
 
In approximately one third of people living with ovarian cancer, the folate-receptor alpha (FRα) biomarker is highly expressed (≥75% of tumor cells with ≥2+ membrane staining intensity). To determine biomarker status, patients can be tested with Roche’s VENTANA FOLR1 (FOLR1-2.1) RxDx Assay at diagnosis or at the first sign of resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy. AbbVie collaborated with Roche Diagnostics on the newly approved immunohistochemistry (IHC) companion diagnostic test to identify patients who may be eligible for ELAHERE.
 
“The approval of ELAHERE by the European Commission provides a much needed clinically meaningful option for patients who receive the heartbreaking news their ovarian cancer has returned, fearing what’s next in their treatment journey after they’ve developed platinum-resistance,” said Roopal Thakkar, M.D., executive vice president, research and development, chief scientific officer, AbbVie.
 
The marketing authorization of ELAHERE is supported by data from MIRASOL: a global, Phase 3 open-label, randomized, controlled trial.
 
Results presented at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting demonstrated a 35% reduction in the risk of tumor progression or death in patients treated in the ELAHERE arm compared with the investigator’s choice (IC) chemotherapy arm, which represented an improvement in PFS [HR 0.65 (95% CI: 0.52, 0.81; p<0.0001)].
ELAHERE also demonstrated improvement in OS compared with IC chemotherapy, representing a 33% reduction in the risk of death in the ELAHERE arm in comparison to the IC chemotherapy arm [HR 0.67 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.89; p=0.0046)].
 
Data from the Phase 3 MIRASOL Trial were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).