AstraZeneca's lung cancer treatment gains positive opinion from CHMP

AstraZeneca on Friday received a marketing authorisation for its lung cancer treatment Imfinzi from the committee for medicinal products for human use (CHMP).

The treatment is specifically for adults with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumours express PD-L1 on more than 1% of tumour cells and whose disease has not progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CRT).

Stage III NSCLC represents roughly one-third of NSCLC incidence and was estimated to affect around 105,000 patients in China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK and the US in 2017.

The positive opinion will now be reviewed by the European Commission, which can approve medicines for the 28 EU countries plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

"There have been no new treatments in this setting for decades. With approximately a third of European non-small cell lung cancer patients presenting with this stage of disease, we are excited by this potential new standard of care in this curative-intent setting," said AstraZeneca's chief medical officer Sean Bohen

AstraZeneca’s shares were down 0.98% at 5,739.00p at 1457 BST.