AstraZeneca to withdraw Imfinzi US indication for bladder cancer
pharmafile | February 22, 2021 | News story | Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Imfinzi
AstraZeneca will voluntarily withdraw the Imfinzi (durvalumab) indication in the US for previously treated adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer.
The decision was made in consultation with the FDA, after the drug failed to meet post-approval requirements for the indication.
Imfinzi was granted accelerated approval in the US in 2017, based on promising tumour response rates and duration of response data from Study 1108, a Phase I/II trial that evaluated the safety and efficacy of Imfinzi in advanced solid tumours, including previously treated bladder cancer.
Continued approval was contingent on results from the DANUBE Phase III trial in the first-line metastatic bladder cancer setting, which did not meet its primary endpoints in 2020. The withdrawal is aligned with FDA guidance for evaluating indications with accelerated approvals that did not meet post-marketing requirements, as part of a broader industry-wide evaluation. The company’s decision does not impact the same indication outside the US, and has no effect on other approved Imfinzi indications within or outside the US.
Healthcare providers are being notified of the change, and AstraZeneca has said that patients with metastatic bladder cancer currently being treated with Imfinzi should consult with their healthcare provider regarding their ongoing care.
Dave Fredrickson, Executive Vice President of the Oncology Business Unit at AstraZeneca, said: “The science of immunotherapy has moved swiftly over the past few years, bringing new options to patients at an unprecedented pace.
“While the withdrawal in previously treated metastatic bladder cancer is disappointing, we respect the principles FDA set out when the accelerated approval pathway was founded and remain committed to bringing new and innovative options to patients. In the last three years, Imfinzi has become an important standard of care in multiple lung cancer settings, an area of considerable focus for AstraZeneca.”
Darcy Jimenez
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