
Success and failure at Phase 3 for AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi combos in first-line small cell lung cancer
pharmafile | March 17, 2020 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development | AstraZeneca, Cancer, Imfinzi, pharma
AstraZeneca has pulled back the curtain on new Phase 3 data for Imfinzi (durvalumab) in the first-line treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), showing that the drug demonstrated “sustained, clinically meaningful overall survival (OS) benefit” when combined with a choice of standard-of-care (SoC) chemotherapies.
These data follow findings in June last year which demonstrated the Imfinzi combo’s “significant and clinically meaningful improvement” in OS compared to SoC alone.
However, it was also reported that a second arm of the study investigating the efficacy of Imfinzi in combination with the anti-CTLA4 drug tremelimumab did not adequately improve overall survival, failing its main goal.
“We are pleased to see the sustained and meaningful survival benefit of Imfinzi for patients with small cell lung cancer after more than two years median follow up,” commented José Baselga, Executive Vice President, Oncology R&D. “We have already received the first global regulatory approval for Imfinzi with etoposide plus either carboplatin or cisplatin and remain on track for more approvals soon as we provide patients an important new 1st-line treatment option.”
AstraZeneca’s combo is currently under regulatory review in the EU, Japan, and has been granted Priority Review in the US.
Matt Fellows
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