Back To Her Biotech Roots: An Interview With Anna Protopapas

The 2013 launch of Genentech Inc./Roche's Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine) for breast cancer seemed to open the door to the long-anticipated age of the armed anticancer antibodies known as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Kadcyla links Roche’s first-line breast cancer therapy Herceptin (trastuzumab) to the cytotoxin, DM1, to deliver a highly targeted combo cancer killer. Oncologists and public markets alike were wowed, with Kadcyla amassing 536 million Swiss francs in its first full year of sales and capturing about 40% of the US and 30% of the EU market in second-line therapy. Roche looked to the ADC as the engine for a future blockbuster first-line breast cancer treatment franchise. Then MARIANNE showed up.

In December 2014, results from the much-anticipated MARIANNE study of Kadcyla alone, in combination with another Roche cytotoxic drug, and...