April 2 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca said on Thursday 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. Here are the key details from the top-line results of the trial and analysts’ forecasts: * The drugmaker […]
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AstraZeneca’s liver cancer therapy combo slows disease progression in late-stage trial
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April 2 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca said on Thursday 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.
Here are the key details from the top-line results of the trial and analysts’ forecasts:
* The drugmaker said Imfinzi, when given in combination withother cancer treatments Imjudo and lenvatinib, along with astandard cancer-targeting procedure for early-stage livercancer, showed a statistically significant and clinicallymeaningful improvement in the main study goal ofprogression-free survival. * This compared with when patients only underwent aprocedure called transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) forunresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). * TACE is a procedure in which chemotherapy treatments areinjected into the liver’s tumours, followed by the blocking ofblood supply to the tumour, to stave it off. * In an interim analysis, the Imfinzi combination alsoshowed an improvement in patients’ overall survival, versus TACEalone, AstraZeneca said. * Patients in the investigational arm of the trial weretreated with a single shot of Imjudo, followed by regular shotsof Imfinzi, a standard early style of treatment. These weregiven with or without lenvatinib, before TACE, and thenalongside TACE. * Senior AstraZeneca executive Susan Galbraith said theresults so far from the trial showed that starting the regimenearlier alongside TACE and lenvatinib could further improveoutcomes. * Analysts at JP Morgan forecast peak annual sales of $11.3billion for the Imfinzi + Imjudo combination, similar to Citianalysts, and above current market expectations of about $10.6billion. * AstraZeneca last week said its experimental drug reducedflare-ups in patients with a chronic lung disease in late-stagetrials, sending its shares up nearly 4%.
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)