FDA Approval Summary: Eribulin for Patients with Unresectable or Metastatic Liposarcoma Who Have Received a Prior Anthracycline-Containing Regimen.

On January 28, 2016, the FDA approved eribulin (Halaven; Eisai Inc.) for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic liposarcoma who have received a prior anthracycline-containing regimen. The approval was based on results from a single, randomized, open-label, active-controlled trial (Trial E7389-G000-309) enrolling 452 patients with advanced, locally recurrent or metastatic liposarcoma or leiomyosarcoma. Patients were randomized to eribulin 1.4 mg/m intravenously (i.v.) on days 1 and 8 or dacarbazine 850, 1,000, or 1,200 mg/m i.v. on day 1 of a 21-day cycle. There was a significant improvement in overall survival [OS; HR, 0.75; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.61-0.94; = 0.0119, stratified log-rank] for the overall population. Estimated median OS was 13.5 months (95% CI, 11.1-16.5) in the eribulin arm and 11.3 months (95% CI, 9.5-12.6) in the dacarbazine arm (HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.61-0.94; = 0.011).There were no differences in PFS for the overall population. The effects of eribulin were limited to patients with liposarcoma ( = 143) based on preplanned, exploratory subgroup analyses of OS (HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.35-0.75) and progression-free survival (PFS; 0.52; 95% CI, 0.35-0.78). Response rates in both treatment arms were less than 5% in the overall population and in the liposarcoma subgroup. The safety profile was similar to that previously reported for eribulin. The FDA determined that, based on the data reviewed, the benefit-risk assessment for eribulin is positive for patients with advanced, pretreated liposarcoma. .