AstraZeneca reports positive results from blood cancer drug trial

AstraZeneca has reported positive results from the use of its Calquence drug in a clinical trial to treat a rare type of blood cancer.

Interim analysis of the ECHO Phase III trial shows that Calquence, otherwise known as acalabrutinib – when used with a combination of standard-of-care chemoimmunotherapy, bendamustine and rituximab – demonstrated a "statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival versus standard of care in previously untreated adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma".

Mantle cell lymphoma or MCL, which is estimated to affect just 27,500 people worldwide, is a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that sees B-lymphocytes mutate into malignant cells within a region of the lymph node known as the mantle zone.

Principal investigator in the trial, Michael Wang, who works at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said the positive progression-free survival results "could provide a new standard of care for patients with MCL".

Data from the trial will be now shared with global regulatory authorities, and Calquence is now being evaluated alone and in combination for the treatment of multiple B-cell blood cancers.

"These impactful results in mantle cell lymphoma show that bringing Calquence to the first-line setting significantly delays disease progression and, for the first time, shows potential to extend survival," said Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca.

"The improvement in progression-free survival together with the differentiated safety profile of Calquence are both important as we strive to transform outcomes earlier in the course of disease treatment."