AstraZeneca's drug combo shows positive results in cancer trial

AstraZeneca said on Friday a combination of its cancer drugs Imfinzi and Lynparza when added to platinum-based chemotherapy showed positive results in a late-stage trial in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.

The treatment followed by either Imfinzi plus Lynparza or Imfinzi alone as maintenance therapy showed a statistically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared to standard-of-care chemotherapy, the British drugmaker said.

Overall survival data was immature at the time of analysis, AstraZeneca said, although a favourable trend was observed for the treatments.

Endometrial cancer is the sixth most common cancer in women globally and the most common in women who have already been through menopause, with the average age at diagnosis being over 60 years old, according to AstraZeneca.

Imfinzi belongs to the immunotherapy class of treatments that boost the body’s own defences to fight cancer by using antibodies that block or bind to foreign substances in the body.

Lynparza, jointly developed with U.S.-based Merck & Co, was approved last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for early-stage breast cancer with certain mutations.