AstraZeneca reports positive analysis from ovarian cancer trial

AstraZeneca announced positive high-level results from analysis of an ongoing ovarian cancer treatment trial on Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the results came from a planned interim analysis of the ‘DUO-O’ phase three trial, and showed significant improvement in progression-free survival for patients with advanced high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer without tumour BRCA mutations.

It said the trial tested a combination of ‘Lynparza’, or olaparib; ‘Imfinzi’, or durvalumab; chemotherapy; and bevacizumab, compared to chemotherapy plus bevacizumab as the control arm.

The patients were treated with Imfinzi in combination with chemotherapy and bevacizumab, followed by Imfinzi, Lynparza, and bevacizumab as maintenance therapy.

In the trial, the combination treatment demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival versus the control arm, while an additional arm of Imfinzi, chemotherapy plus bevacizumab showed a numerical improvement in progression-free survival versus the control arm, but did not reach statistical significance.

The overall survival and other secondary endpoints were still immature, and would be formally assessed at a later analysis.

AstraZeneca noted that ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecologic cancers, with over two-thirds of patients diagnosed with advanced disease, which could progress quickly and diminish quality-of-life despite treatment.

Unfortunately, between 50% and 70% of patients with advanced disease die within five years.

The safety and tolerability of the combinations was “broadly consistent” with that observed in prior clinical trials, AstraZeneca noted, as well as with the known profiles of the individual medicines.

It said the data would be presented at upcoming medical meetings, and shared with health authorities.

“While there has been significant progress for patients with advanced ovarian cancer, an unmet need still remains,” said Susan Galbraith, AstraZeneca’s executive vice-president of oncology research and development.

“These data from the DUO-O trial provide encouraging evidence for this Lynparza and Imfinzi combination in patients without tumour BRCA mutations and reinforce our continued commitment to finding new treatment approaches for these patients.

“It will be important to understand the key secondary endpoints as well as data for relevant subgroups.”

At 0854 BST, shares in AstraZeneca were up 0.95% at 11,351.16p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.