A Global Study to Compare the Effects of Fulvestrant and Arimidex in a Subset of Patients With Breast Cancer.
Summary
The purpose of the study is to compare how treatment with Fulvestrant (FASLODEX) or Anastrozole (ARIMIDEX) effects disease progression for women with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have not had prior hormonal treatment.
Timeline
- Start
- 2012-10-17
- Primary completion
- 2016-04-11
- Completion
- 2026-01-16
Outcome
Met primary endpoint
paper Progression-free survival was significantly longer in the fulvestrant group than in the anastrozole group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·797, 95% CI 0·637-0·999, p=0·0486). PMID 27908454 ↗
release “Faslodex 500mg demonstrated superiority compared with Arimidex 1mg in FALCON, and met its primary endpoint of extended progression-free survival.” astrazeneca.com ↗
release “Phase III FALCON trial demonstrates superiority of Faslodex over Arimidex in the 1st-line treatment of hormone-receptor positive (HR+) advanced breast cancer” astrazeneca.com ↗
Publications
- Robertson JFR, Shao Z, Noguchi S, Bondarenko I, Panasci L, Singh S, Subramaniam S, Ellis MJ. Fulvestrant Versus Anastrozole in Endocrine Therapy-Naive Women With Hormone Receptor-Positive Advanced Breast Cancer: Final Overall Survival in the Phase III FALCON Trial. J Clin Oncol. 2025 May;43(13):1539-1545. doi: 10.1200/JCO.24.00994. Epub 2025 Jan 7.
- Robertson JFR, Cheung KL, Noguchi S, Shao Z, Degboe A, Lichfield J, Thirlwell J, Fazal M, Ellis MJ. Health-related quality of life from the FALCON phase III randomised trial of fulvestrant 500 mg versus anastrozole for hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. Eur J Cancer. 2018 May;94:206-215. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2018.02.026. Epub 2018 Mar 22.
- Robertson JFR, Bondarenko IM, Trishkina E, Dvorkin M, Panasci L, Manikhas A, Shparyk Y, Cardona-Huerta S, Cheung KL, Philco-Salas MJ, Ruiz-Borrego M, Shao Z, Noguchi S, Rowbottom J, Stuart M, Grinsted LM, Fazal M, Ellis MJ. Fulvestrant 500 mg versus anastrozole 1 mg for hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer (FALCON): an international, randomised, double-blind, phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2016 Dec 17;388(10063):2997-3005. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32389-3. Epub 2016 Nov 29.
- Ellis MJ, Llombart-Cussac A, Feltl D, Dewar JA, Jasiowka M, Hewson N, Rukazenkov Y, Robertson JF. Fulvestrant 500 mg Versus Anastrozole 1 mg for the First-Line Treatment of Advanced Breast Cancer: Overall Survival Analysis From the Phase II FIRST Study. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Nov 10;33(32):3781-7. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2015.61.5831. Epub 2015 Sep 14.
Drugs
| Evaluation | Drug | Modality | Dose | Route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comparator | Anastrozole | Other / unclassified | 1 mg | Oral |
| Subject | Fulvestrant | Small molecule | 500 mg | Intramuscular |