Living dossier · Competitive landscape

CDK4/6 in HR-positive breast cancer

Primary identifiers
8
Sponsors tracked
7
Evidence types
2 of 3
Last refreshed
2026-07-28 · monthly

MightyRayn panel synthesis

OmniRayn’s reading of this landscape — our interpretation, not a registry fact

The live question here is no longer which inhibitor but what to do when one stops working, and the registry has quietly reorganised around that. Most active Phase 3 work sits in the adjuvant and early-disease setting rather than metastatic first line — the class is being pushed earlier rather than deeper. Meanwhile the most consequential recent trial tested no new inhibitor at all: it monitored circulating tumour DNA for an emergent resistance mutation and swapped the endocrine partner while keeping the CDK4/6 inhibitor in place. That reframes the class as a backbone to be preserved rather than a drug to be replaced, and it pulls ctDNA surveillance into the competitive picture. The corollary for anyone entering: the comparator is a combination and a monitoring strategy, not a molecule.

Programs and primary evidence

SponsorAssetPhaseMechanismPrimary source
Novartis PharmaceuticalsRibociclib (NATALEE)3CDK4/6 inhibitor with endocrine therapy, adjuvant
  • NCT03701334Adjuvant ribociclib plus endocrine therapy in HR-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer
Novartis PharmaceuticalsRibociclib (Adjuvant WIDER)3CDK4/6 inhibitor in a close-to-clinical-practice population
  • NCT05827081Phase 3b characterising adjuvant ribociclib plus endocrine therapy outside trial-idealised populations
West German Study GroupRibociclib (ADAPTcycle)3CDK4/6 inhibitor plus endocrine therapy versus chemotherapy
  • NCT04055493Marker-adjusted personalised therapy comparing endocrine therapy plus ribociclib against chemotherapy in intermediate-risk early disease
Japanese Foundation for Cancer ResearchAbemaciclib (JCOG2313 AURA)3CDK4/6 inhibitor in locoregional recurrence
  • NCT07190443Adjuvant abemaciclib in patients with locoregional recurrence of HR-positive, HER2-negative disease
CelcuityGedatolisib + palbociclib (VIKTORIA-2)3PI3K/mTOR inhibitor added to a CDK4/6 backbone versus a different CDK4/6 inhibitor
  • NCT06757634First-line comparison of gedatolisib with palbociclib and endocrine therapy against ribociclib and endocrine therapy
First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical UniversityDalpiciclib (adjuvant)2CDK4/6 inhibitor with endocrine therapy, adjuvant
  • NCT06341894Adjuvant dalpiciclib with endocrine therapy in HR-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer
Institut CurieSERENA-6 randomised trial reportctDNA-guided switch of the endocrine partner while the CDK4/6 inhibitor continues
  • 10.1056/NEJMoa2502929Trial reported longer investigator-assessed progression-free survival when patients with an emergent ESR1 mutation switched endocrine partner and continued the CDK4/6 inhibitor, versus continuing the aromatase inhibitor
University of PalermoreviewCDK4/6-Rb-E2F axis; sensitivity and resistance determinants
  • 10.1016/j.drup.2024.101103Mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to CDK4/6 inhibition, including effects on the breast stromal compartment; notes there is no established standard next-line treatment for acquired resistance

Method and limits

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