- Positive late stage trail results for Imfinzi
- First and only immunotherapy to demonstrate survival benefit
- Imfinzi is Astra’s second biggest selling cancer drug
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN) said a late-stage trial for its blockbuster lung cancer drug Imfinzi significantly improved overall survival and disease-free progression in patients with aggressive small cell lung cancer.
Small cell lung cancer is a highly aggressive cancer which typically recurs and progresses despite initially responding to chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The disease has a particularly poor prognosis with only 15% to 30% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis.
AstraZeneca said Imfinzi is the first and only immunotherapy to demonstrate survival benefit in a phase three trial.
WHAT DID THE COMPANY SAY?
Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology, commented: ‘These exciting results build on the transformative efficacy of Imfinzi in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer and demonstrate the potential to bring a curative-intent immunotherapy treatment to this earlier-stage setting of small cell lung cancer for the first time.
‘These data, together with the PACIFIC data in unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer, underscore the pioneering role of Imfinzi in the treatment of early lung cancer following chemoradiotherapy.’
Suresh Senan, the principal investigator in the trial, said: ‘Many patients treated for limited-stage small cell lung cancer face disease recurrence and the standard of care has remained unchanged for decades.
‘ADRIATIC is the first global Phase III immunotherapy trial to deliver significant, clinically meaningful improvement in survival in this setting, marking a breakthrough for patients with this devastating disease.’
Imfinzi is already approved for several other indications including the treatment of extensive stage small cell lung cancer. It is AstraZeneca’s second biggest selling cancer drug after Tagrisso and generated $4.2 billion in revenue in 2023.
EXPERT VIEW
Shore Capital’s Sean Conroy commented: ‘With circa 85% the full year 2027 consensus forecasts for Imfinzi already attributable to its use for lung cancer, we don’t anticipate any significant upgrades based on these data alone.’
‘We view the opportunities outside of lung cancer as more important source of near- to medium-term upgrades.’
AstraZeneca shares fell 1% to £106.42 in mid-morning trading and are down 8% over the last year compared with a 3% gain in the benchmark FTSE 100 index.
