# Pegvorhyaluronidase alfa

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/pegvorhyaluronidase-alfa/  
OnCo record `pegvorhyaluronidase-alfa` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

PEGPH20 was designed to break down the hyaluronan that stiffens pancreatic tumours and let chemotherapy in; in the phase 3 HALO-301 trial it raised response rates but not survival, and Halozyme stopped developing it in 2019.

## Summary

Hyaluronan accumulates in the desmoplastic stroma of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and raises interstitial pressure; pegvorhyaluronidase alfa degrades it. HALO 109-301 randomised 494 patients with untreated, hyaluronan-high metastatic disease 2 to 1 to PEGPH20 or placebo with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine. Median overall survival was 11.2 against 11.5 months (hazard ratio 1.00, 95 percent confidence interval 0.80 to 1.27), progression-free survival 7.1 months in both arms and objective response 47 against 36 percent; fatigue, muscle spasms and hyponatraemia were commoner with PEGPH20. The registry entry (NCT02715804) records termination after the interim analysis and 15 UK sites including Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, the Christie, Hammersmith and the Royal Marsden. The authors concluded the results did not support further development in metastatic pancreatic cancer.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: negative
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: PEGPH20; PEGylated recombinant human hyaluronidase
- Code: PEGPH20
- Modality: PEGylated recombinant hyaluronidase (stroma-degrading enzyme)
- Mechanism: Enzymatic degradation of hyaluronan in the tumour stroma, lowering interstitial pressure and re-expanding vessels.

## Sources

- Van Cutsem et al., HALO 109-301 (JCO 2020): https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.20.00590
- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02715804: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02715804

## Connected records

- cancers: [Metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/metastatic-pdac/), [Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic/)
- companies: [Halozyme Therapeutics](https://onco.cc/companies/halozyme/)
- terms: [Desmoplasia (tumour stroma)](https://onco.cc/terms/desmoplasia/), [Pancreatic cancer: the failed and stopped programmes and why](https://onco.cc/terms/pancreatic-failed-programmes/)
- trials: [HALO 109-301](https://onco.cc/trials/halo-301/)

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