New combo therapy for breast cancer aims to outsmart drug resistance
NCT ID NCT07395336
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This phase 2 trial is testing whether combining two hormone-blocking drugs, elacestrant and exemestane, can help people with a certain type of advanced breast cancer (HR+/HER2-) that has stopped responding to initial treatments. The study uses a special PET scan to select participants whose tumors still have active estrogen receptors. The main goal is to see how long the cancer stays under control without growing.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- elacestrant and exemestane (two hormone-blocking drugs)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could offer a new combination treatment option for certain patients with advanced breast cancer whose tumors still show estrogen receptors on PET scans.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-phase study with only 26 participants. The combination may not work better than existing treatments, and side effects from the two drugs are possible.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
-
About 26 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
-
May 2026
- Expected to finish
-
Dec 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 years and older
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Must be at least 18 years old; 2. Must have a histologically- or cytologically-proven diagnosis of carcinoma of the breast with evidence of either locally advanced disease not amenable to resection or radiation therapy with curative intent or metastatic disease not amenable to curative therapy 3. Must be appropriate candidates for endocrine therapy (no visceral crisis, highly symptomatic disease or rapidly progressing disease) 4. Must have 1 of the following as defined by RECIST v1.1: 1. Measurable disease 2. Bone only disease with evaluable lesions. Subjects must have at least 1 lytic or mixed lytic/blastic bone lesion; blastic lesions only are not evaluable and allowed. Subjects who have had prior radiation to bone must have at least 1 evaluable lesion in a nonirradiated area. 5. ≥50% of measurable lesions defined as avid (SUVmax≥1.5) at 18F-FES-PET/CT; 6. Must have HR+ and HER2- disease at the last previous biopsy. ER and HER2 testing must be performed in the following manner: 1. Documentation of ER+ tumor with ≥ 10% staining by immunohistochemistry (IHC), with or without PgR positivity AND 2. Documentation of HER2- tumor with an IHC result of 0 or 1+ for cellular membrane protein expression or an in situ hybridization negative result as defined in the 2023 ASCO recommendations for HER2 testing (Wolff, 2013; Wolff, 2018; Wolff 2023) 8\. Must have progressed during or within 28 days of completion of prior treatment with a CDK4/6 inhibitor in combination with anastrozole or letrozole (+ LHRH agonist for male or premenopausal female patients). 1. This treatment has to be received in first line setting for metastatic disease (with abemaciclib, ribociclib or palbociclib) 2. Discontinuation of prior CDK4/6 inhibitor due to toxicity, in the absence of progression, will not fulfill this criterion 3. Patients must have received the combination treatment for at least 12 months and there must have been evidence of disease control (stable disease \[SD\], partial response \[PR\] or complete response \[CR\] as best response) 9. Must have received no other treatment after the CDK4/6 inhibitor combined with endocrine therapy 10. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1 Exclusion Criteria: 1. Prior treatment with fulvestrant, elacestrant or investigational SERD or ER antagonist in metastatic or early disease (e.g., D-0502, GDC-0810, GDC-0927, GDC-9545, G1T-48, LSZ102, AZD9496, SAR439859, ZN-c5, H3B-6545, bazedoxifene, lasofoxifene) 2. Prior treatment with tamoxifen or SERD alone or combined with CDK4/6i in metastatic setting 3. Any other endocrine therapy \< 14 days before first dose of study drug 4. Any prior treatment after first line with CDK4/6i in metastatic setting 5. Bisphosphonates or RANKL inhibitors initiated or dose changed \< 3 months prior to first dose of study drug 6. Radiation therapy within 14 days (28 days for brain lesions) before the first dose of study drug
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Breast cancer are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
-
The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
-
The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
-
A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
European Institute of Oncology
RECRUITINGMilan, Italy, 20141, Italy
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can a common steroid shield breast cancer patients from a dangerous drug side effect?
- Tiny magnetic seeds could guide surgeons to the right lymph node
- New PET tracer aims to light up hidden cancer targets
- Gut bacteria supplement tested against chemo hair loss
- Can a mindfulness program boost Self-Compassion in breast cancer survivors?
- Can a Decades-Old Anti-Inflammatory drug quiet the joint pain that drives women off breast cancer therapy?