AstraZeneca's Imfinzi Combo Shows Strong Survival Benefit in Liver Cancer Trial
Bengaluru: AstraZeneca said that a combination treatment with its cancer drug Imfinzi showed significant improvement in how long patients with a common liver cancer lived before their disease worsened, in a late-stage trial.
The drugmaker said Imfinzi, when given in combination with other cancer treatments Imjudo and lenvatinib, along with a standard cancer-targeting procedure for early-stage liver cancer, showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the main study goal of progression-free survival.
This compared with when patients only underwent a procedure called transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
TACE is a procedure in which chemotherapy treatments are injected into the liver's tumours, followed by the blocking of blood supply to the tumour, to stave it off.
In an interim analysis, the Imfinzi combination also showed an improvement in patients' overall survival, versus TACE alone, AstraZeneca said.
Patients in the investigational arm of the trial were treated with a single shot of Imjudo, followed by regular shots of Imfinzi, a standard early style of treatment. These were given with or without lenvatinib, before TACE, and then alongside TACE.
Senior AstraZeneca executive Susan Galbraith said the results so far from the trial showed that starting the regimen earlier alongside TACE and lenvatinib could further improve outcomes.
Analysts at JP Morgan forecast peak annual sales of $11.3 billion for the Imfinzi + Imjudo combination, similar to Citi analysts, and above current market expectations of about $10.6 billion.
AstraZeneca last week said its experimental drug reduced flare-ups in patients with a chronic lung disease in late-stage trials, sending its shares up nearly 4%.
