HERTHENA-Lung02

HERTHENA-Lung02, trial NCT05338970 sponsored by Daiichi Sankyo and Merck and reported in 2025, tested the HER3 antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan against platinum chemotherapy in EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer after a third-generation EGFR inhibitor. It randomised 586 patients and met its primary progression-free survival endpoint, but the median gain over chemotherapy amounted to days and overall survival was no different, so the companies withdrew the accelerated approval application on 29 May 2025. OnCo links it to HER3 as a target and to Benjamin Besse, and records the trial as a lesson that antibody-drug conjugate activity after targeted therapy does not guarantee benefit over a platinum doublet, since the single-arm HERTHENA-Lung01 signal did not translate. Whether HER3 remains a viable target in this setting is the open question.