- At six years, 91.9% of women treated with Kisqali and hormone therapy were alive
- The survival gap increased from 1.2 percentage points at five years to 2.1 points at six years
Updated 23 October 2026 16:34
LONDON: Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ drug Kisqali helped extend survival for women with a form of high-risk, early-stage breast cancer, cutting their risk of death by 19 percent after six years, according to trial data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Madrid on Friday.
At six years, 91.9 percent of women who received Kisqali and hormone therapy were alive compared with 89.7 percent of those who received hormone therapy alone.
The survival gap grew from 1.2 percentage points at five years to 2.1 points at six years.
The initial expectation was that it would take about 10 years of follow-up to show a survival difference. “Turns out we’re seeing a difference even sooner,” said UCLA’s Dennis Slamon, the trial’s lead investigator.
Kisqali works by slowing cancer cells rather than killing them immediately. The longer cancer cells stay frozen, the more likely they are to permanently stop dividing and die.
The drug is already approved in the US and EU for patients with stage 2 or 3 breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.
Analysts expect sales of the drug to be about $7 billion for this year, according to Visible Alpha estimates.