AstraZeneca receives positive interim results from lung cancer drug trial

AstraZeneca said on Thursday that interim trial results showed that Imfinzi, in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery, demonstrated a "statistically significant and meaningful improvement" in pathologic complete response when compared to neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone.

The trial, which also showed a "statistically significant improvement" in major pathologic response, will continue as planned in order to assess its additional primary endpoint of event-free survival to which the FTSE 100-listed company, investigators and participants remain blinded.

AZN highlighted that the "safety and tolerability" of adding Imfinzi to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was consistent with the known profile for the combination and did not decrease the number of patients able to undergo successful surgery versus chemotherapy alone.

Susan Galbraith, AZN's executive vice president of Oncology R&D, said: "Treating resectable lung cancer early provides the best chance for a cure, yet lung cancer will still recur within five years for the majority of patients despite chemotherapy and successful surgery.

"Engaging the immune response with Imfinzi both before and after surgery is an exciting new strategy, and we hope these early findings from AEGEAN will lead to improved survival for lung cancer patients in this potentially curative setting."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com