Drugmaker AstraZeneca posted two contrasting lung\u2011cancer updates on Monday, discontinuing one Phase III study while reporting strong survival gains from another.<\/p>\n
AstraZeneca said it will halt the eVOLVE\u2011Lung02 Phase III trial of volrustomig plus chemotherapy in first\u2011line metastatic non\u2011small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) with PD\u2011L1 expression below 50%.<\/p>\n
The move follows a recommendation from the Independent Data Monitoring Committee, which concluded after a planned data review that the volrustomig regimen was unlikely to meet either of its dual primary endpoints of progression\u2011free survival or overall survival in patients with PD\u2011L1\u2011negative tumours.<\/p>\n
Separately, AstraZeneca reported positive high\u2011level results from its SAFFRON Phase III trial, where Tagrisso (osimertinib) combined with Orpathys (savolitinib) delivered “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements” in both progression\u2011free and overall survival versus platinum\u2011based chemotherapy.<\/p>\n
The study enrolled patients with EGFR\u2011mutated NSCLC whose tumours showed high levels of MET overexpression or amplification and had progressed on prior Tagrisso treatment.<\/p>\n
AstraZeneca addded that the findings reinforced Tagrisso’s role as the backbone therapy across EGFR\u2011mutated lung cancer.<\/p>\n
As of 0840 BST, AstraZeneca shares were up 1.40% at 11,620p.<\/p>\n
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com<\/p>\n