An intravenous targeted treatment for HER2-positive breast, lung, and stomach cancers.
ENHERTU is a HER2-directed antibody and topoisomerase inhibitor conjugate indicated for: HER2-Positive Early Breast Cancer as neoadjuvant treatment of adult patients with HER2-positive (IHC 3+ or ISH+) Stage II or III breast cancer, as determined by an FDA-authorized test followed by a taxane, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab (THP). ( 1.1 ) as adjuvant treatment of adult patients with HER2-positive (IHC 3+ or ISH+) breast cancer who have residual invasive disease following neoadjuvant trastuzumab (with or without pertuzumab) and taxane-based treatment. ( 1.1 ) HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer in combination with pertuzumab as first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (IHC 3+ or ISH+) breast cancer, as determined by an FDA-authorized test. ( 1.2 ) as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (…
12.1 Mechanism of Action Fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki is a HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate. The antibody is a humanized anti-HER2 IgG1. The small molecule, DXd, is a topoisomerase I inhibitor attached to the antibody by a cleavable linker. Following binding to HER2 on tumor cells, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki undergoes internalization and intracellular linker cleavage by lysosomal enzymes. Upon release, the membrane-permeable DXd causes DNA damage and apoptotic cell death.
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Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by the Priya Life Science editorial team, led by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 23 Aug 2026.