Population Pharmacokinetics of Trastuzumab Deruxtecan in Patients With HER2‐Positive Breast Cancer and Other Solid Tumors

Trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS-8201) is a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeting antibody-drug conjugate with a novel enzyme-cleavable linker, a topoisomerase I inhibitor payload, and a drug-to-antibody ratio of ≈ 8. We have characterized the population pharmacokinetics (PK) of trastuzumab deruxtecan and released drug (topoisomerase I inhibitor) in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer or other solid tumor malignancies. This analysis includes pooled data from five clinical studies with 639 patients. Trastuzumab deruxtecan doses ranged from 0.8 to 8.0 mg/kg every 3 weeks. Serum concentrations of trastuzumab deruxtecan and released drug were analyzed using a sequential two-step approach, with the nonlinear mixed-effects modeling methods. Covariate assessment was based upon stepwise forward-addition and backward-elimination process, followed by both univariate and multivariate analysis quantifying their impact on steady-state exposure of trastuzumab deruxtecan and released drug. A two-compartment model with linear elimination best described PK profiles of intact trastuzumab deruxtecan, while a one-compartment model with time-varying release-rate constant and linear elimination described released-drug PK profiles. Statistically significant covariates (country, tumor size, sex, formulation, age, body weight, albumin, total bilirubin, and aspartate aminotransferase) resulted in < 20% change in steady-state area under the concentration-time curve of trastuzumab deruxtecan and released drug, except for increased body weight (95th percentile, 86 kg) and decreased albumin (5th percentile, 31 g/L). Analysis of patients stratified by country, race, renal function, and hepatic function found no clinically meaningful differences in steady-state exposure of intact trastuzumab deruxtecan or released drug. Overall, results suggest that no dose adjustment based on tested covariates or in specific patient populations is warranted.