AstraZeneca drug fails to improve on chemotherapy in lung cancer trial

AstraZeneca confirmed on Wednesday that its Imfinzi (durvalumab) treatment for lung and bladder cancer failed to improve upon survival rates registered by chemotherapy treatment in a clinical trial where it was combined with a human monoclonal antibody.

The recent phase III lung cancer trial, which was randomised, open-label and multi-centre, saw the FDA-approved Imfinzi drug fail to meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival in previously-untreated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients when the drug was combined with tremelimumab antibodies.

The pharmaceutical giant added that the drug, which inhibits the immune responses of tumours, is still being tested as a monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapy in separate clinical trials.

Meanwhile, Tremelimumab continues to be the subject of a clinical trial programme in combination with Imfinzi in patients suffering from bladder cancer, head and neck cancer, liver cancer and blood cancers.

José Baselga, executive vice president of oncology research and development at AstraZeneca, said: "We are fully committed to a deep analysis of the vast clinical and biomarker data from this trial to gain further insights to improve immuno-oncology approaches for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer."